The Facility Revisited
by OfficerKennedy
Summary: The Facility Trilogy 'Director's Cut' - Please read
1. Chapter 1

Notes:- Thanks to everyone who responded to my initial post about rewriting this thing! I've been unhappy with the originals for a while so hopefully you'll enjoy re-reading this as much as I've enjoyed re-writing it!

The Facility Revisited

Chapter One

"I knew you'd end up forgetting something" Jill teased as she handed Chris' battered passport over. Chris stuffed it in the back pocket of his jeans and offered her a goofy smile. He took another drag of his cigarette.

"Where would I be without you"? He replied, blowing out a perfect smoke ring. It had taken him months to perfect that little trick. Jill rolled her eyes and coughed, waving the smoke away from her face. It was no secret that Jill hated his smoking. Hell, she'd said it often enough.

"What time's your flight"? She asked, nodding at the entrance to the airport a few yards away.

"I dunno. Soon" Chris shrugged again. He dropped his cigarette and ground it into the pavement with the toe of his red skater trainer. He wasn't fussed about stupid things like flight times. He was more bothered about whether the air hostesses would be hot or if the trolley served beer. He wouldn't say no to a decent in flight action flick either. Jill sighed heavily and bent down to rifle through his bag. Knowing her, she was probably checking whether or not he even had his plane ticket. Looking down at her, he wondered how on earth he'd ever found her attractive enough to date. True, she had an awesome body and a butt that utterly refused to quit but she was so damn irritating. All she'd ever done whilst they'd been together was nag him. Nag him about dumping his clothes on the floor, nag him about smoking, nag him about drinking milk straight from the carton. It had driven him mad. They'd dated for a few months before he'd finally ended it. Things had been pretty awkward between them for a while but the BSAA had kept them both busy and when they were eventually put on a mission together, it'd almost been like old times.

"Good luck out there" Jill straightened up and passed him the plane ticket. "I hope this new partner of yours treats you well"

"I'm sure he'll be fine" Chris picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder as the two of them headed for the airport entrance.

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Chris leant back in his chair and gratefully accepted another bag of free peanuts from the sexy blonde air hostess. He'd made his flight on time which he totally knew he would, despite what Jill had to say. He ripped open the bag and tipped it straight into his mouth. The peanuts were right, the air hostess was right but the in flight movie wasn't. It was some dumb romantic comedy. The sort that Jill used to make him watch. He glanced over at the file folder he'd carried on. He really should make the effort to actually read his mission brief or at least come up with some sort of plan. He didn't actually know all that much about his current job. A week or so ago, he'd received a call from Barry who'd been full of the joys of spring because the US Government had agreed to give the BSAA some minimal funding. Chris wasn't exactly the biggest fan of the current president or his government but he knew he wasn't in a position to thumb his nose at funding. It seemed that all the government wanted in return was someone to go to Spain to aid one of their agents who was currently investigating some potential biohazard. Barry had happily volunteered him to be the one to help.

He tipped the remainder of the bag of peanuts into his mouth and crunched loudly. He didn't mind being volunteered. The pay was good and getting a big fat cheque for a job well done was one of Chris' favourite things. He'd been pretty flippant about it with Jill but he really hoped that this government guy wasn't stuck up or anything. It'd made the job a hell of a lot harder if he got landed with some asshole.

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"This partner you've landed me better be good. I don't want to be stuck with some asshole with more brawn than brains"

"Relax Leon" Dennis looked up from his computer. A small smile played across his lips almost as if he was enjoying the situation. "Barry Burton is a friend of a friend. I have it on good authority that he knows good men" He continued reassuringly in his clipped English accent. Leon didn't reply. He helped himself to a cup of cold water from the water cooler that Dennis kept in the corner of his office. He took a sip and regarded his colleague for a moment. Outwardly, Dennis looked like every other government official he'd ever met. He wore dark suits and shirts with carefully matched ties. His greying hair was neatly slicked back with gel and his black wire framed glasses sat on the tip of his nose as he surveyed whatever was on his computer screen. Dennis had been the first person he'd met when he'd arrived in Spain and it had been Dennis that was tasked with getting him settled in. It had been a brief friendship, no longer than a few months, but Dennis was one of the few, if the only, person Leon respected. The one thing that irked him was Dennis' penchant for withholding information that he, Leon, considered to be important. Leon knew that he was about to undertake a difficult and potentially life threatening mission and he had the distinct impression there was something he wasn't being told. It had been that very morning that Dennis had chosen to tell him that missing information. He was to have a partner for the mission.

"Are you going to tell me again that you don't need a partner"? Dennis was openly smiling now. "I would certainly love to hear your next reason as to why. Although I should remind you, if the government is willing to fund the BSAA then they are certainly going to want their money's worth. Need I remind you again that this current mission is of a very dangerous nature and that it would be prudent to have some backup"?

Leon really wanted to argue that point. After all, how many other deadly situations had he gotten through with nobody but himself to rely on? It had taken him some time but he'd learnt that when it came to life in general, relying on others got you nowhere. He was about to tell Dennis that exact fact when all of a sudden, the office door burst open and somebody walked in.

An extraordinarily large somebody.

The man had the biggest muscles that Leon had ever seen outside of a body building competition. He was tall and broad with dark brown hair styled into messy floppy spikes. He was dressed simply, in dark jeans and an olive green t-shirt that strained across his impressive chest and shoulders. He had a silly lopsided grin that probably drove most women crazy with desire. Well, Leon snorted, the vacuous ones anyway. Leon sighed heavily, distinctly unimpressed with this interloper who, quite frankly, had an oafish quality about him that he knew he would find immensely irritating.

"The polite thing to do would be to knock" He said acidly. "Whatever room it is your looking for, I can assure you that this isn't it"

Far from being put off by this attitude, the oaf wiped a sweaty palm down the leg of his jeans and held it out to shake, the goofy grin still very much in place.

"Chris Redfield" He said, totally unfazed by his less-than-warm welcome.

"Ah, Mr Redfield" Dennis stood up and shook Chris' hand warmly. "A pleasure to meet you at last. Barry Burton has told me a lot about you. You can call me Dennis and I shall be your mission co-ordinator during your time with us"

"Sweet" Chris replied, shaking Dennis' hand heartily. Leon rolled his eyes. So he talked like a teenager? Well wasn't that a big surprise? It was unnerving that Dennis knew who he was. That meant the chances of Chris being in the wrong room were very slim and that could only mean one thing.

"He's a good guy Leon" Dennis said, turning to regard Leon. "I'm sure the two of you will get along just fine" He paused, obviously waiting for Leon to introduce himself.

Chris noticed that this Leon guy seemed to be intent on staring daggers at Dennis. He took this opportunity to size his new partner up. The guy was fairly short and had nowhere near the impressive muscle mass of his own hard-worked for body. Leon had what Jill would've probably called a swimmer's build. He had blonde, floppy hair that looked well cared for. Chris figured that would be the sort of hair that women would go nuts for. He seemed to carry himself with a quiet confidence, almost as if he was some sort of James Bond style lady killer. To Chris, it all seemed a little bit too perfect. But, he figured, it could be worse. At least the guy wasn't wearing a suit or anything. If there was one thing Chris couldn't stand, it was stuck up government officials in suits. Thankfully, the suit wearing Dennis guy seemed cool. Leon however, was wearing black combats and a fitted grey top. He was also wearing a really expensive looking leather jacket despite the ridiculous heat in the small office. Chris snorted at that. Posing bastard.

"Are we getting out of here or are you just going to stand there looking retarded"? Leon's harsh tone broke through Chris' examination of his new partner. He was now standing by the door, nodding towards the corridor ahead. With another quick nod to Dennis, Leon stalked off leaving Chris little choice but to follow. Chris noticed that as he closed the office door, Dennis gave him a slightly apologetic look.

Leon didn't speak again until they were in the parking lot of the building. He strutted towards a black Jeep and grabbed the keys from the inside pocket of his jacket. Chris looked around at the building. It looked similar to the old RPD building back in Raccoon City but without the pomp and old architecture. A tattered American flag hung from a white flag pole on the side of it. Chris fidgeted in his pockets until he found his pack of cigarettes. He plucked one out and was reaching for his lighter when Leon finally spoke.

"You're not smoking in the car" He said shortly. "Unlike you, I don't want lung cancer" He looked Chris up and down appraisingly. "Why work so hard for a body like that only to smoke yourself to death"? He snorted. "Unless it's all steroids of course" He wrenched open the driver's side door and climbed in.

With a resigned sigh, Chris pocketed his cigarettes and hopped into the Jeep. It was beginning to seem like he had been landed with an asshole after all. So what if he smoked? What was the big deal? He'd been doing it for years. He was well aware of the risks. Jill had been just as uppity about it. Anyone would think he was doing something wrong.

"What's with this high and mighty shit"? Chris asked as Leon started the Jeep. "You're no better than me so why act like you are"?

"Oh I'm not acting" Leon replied simply. "I am better than you" He checked the road before pulling out of the parking lot. "I don't need a partner and I need a friend even less. As far as I'm concerned you're just someone I have to tolerate until we get the job done and you can be shipped back to America where you belong" Before Chris had a chance to process this, Leon continued. "I trust this Barry Burton guy told you that you'd be staying at my place for the duration of the mission"?

Chris looked at his new partner, searching for some sign that he was joking. It seemed clear however, that Leon wasn't the type of person who told jokes. Chris had been imagining some luxury hotel with all the facilities including room service and a healthy selection of pornographic films. That had been his plan. If his partner turned out to be an asshole then it wouldn't matter because he could just chill out in the hotel room until they needed to work together. Now it seemed his partner was a total asshole and that they'd be living together. Chris was beginning to regret being so eager at taking the job on.

"I was kinda hoping for a hotel" He replied. "Y'know, with all the best facilities"?

"I can assure you that my house as everything you'll need for your stay here" Leon said. "It's not my idea of an ideal situation but needs must I suppose"

"Great" Chris replied sarcastically as he slumped further down the passenger seat. Leon looked like one of those guys who liked to get up stupidly early for no good reason. Even during his Air Force years, Chris had a problem with early starts.

"And let me tell you right now. I'm not your mother" Leon continued. "If we're not working, it's up to you what time you get up and what you do. I can show you a couple of places that might be of interest but as far as I'm concerned, we'll stay out of each other's way. We don't even have to have meals together" He shrugged and offered Chris his first smile, albeit a sarcastic one. "Just as long as when some mutant creature wants to take a chunk out of me, you're there with your magnum to blow its head off"

Leon finally shut up after that. Chris stared out of the window at the passing countryside moodily. Barry had really let him down on this one. His old friend had assured him countless times that it was to be a simple enough mission. A quick in and out job that would secure the much needed funding for the BSAA. What Barry hadn't bothered to tell him was that he was going to have to do the job with a guy who had a serious attitude problem. As Leon continued to drive them to god knows where. Chris made a mental note to kick Barry's ass as soon as he returned to America.

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As luck would have it, Leon's home turned out to be a hell of a lot nicer than any of the hotels that Chris had imagined on the plane journey. Unlike its owner, it was cosy and radiated a clean, tidy aura that reminded him of the apartment that he'd once shared with Jill. The building itself was nestled between some small mountains and resembled a log cabin. It had a balcony on the second floor that looked as if it offered great views of the big city in the distance. He followed Leon to the front door and once inside, he could see that it was tastefully decorated with neutral creams and pine furniture. There seemed to be very few personal possessions about and it was spotlessly tidy. Chris thought of his own apartment back in America with its decorations of beer cans and takeaway containers. At least he had photos up on the walls though. There seemed to be nothing like that in Leon's home. Despite how cosy it looked and appeared, it also had the feeling of a show home rather than where somebody actually lived. The lounge area had nothing more than a sofa, a chair, a coffee table and a few bookcases. The kitchen, to his right, looked equally as bare with its spotless cabinets and clean pine table. Ahead of him was the stairs that led to the second floor and, through the lounge area, he could clearly see a set of glass panelled doors that looked as if they led to a decked area outside. His eyes lit up when they spotted the hot tub and he instantly imagined himself soaking his aching, travel weary muscles in there with a beer. Without a word, Leon parked himself on the black leather sofa and grabbed a file folder off the coffee table. He started to flick through it silently, leaving Chris standing around unsure of where to place himself. Eventually, as it seemed obvious Leon wasn't going to offer, he flopped down into the armchair.

"Nice place you got here" He commented, if only to break the silence. He hated silences. There was an awful lot of silences during that last month with Jill. He liked noise whether it was friendly chatter or the buzz of the TV or games console.

"The government own it" Leon answered, not looking up from the contents of the folder. Chris wondered if he was looking over the mission brief. Leon didn't seem to be in a hurry to share any information.

"You seem like a nice guy" Chris silently cursed the words as soon as he said them. Leon didn't seem like a nice guy at all. In fact, he seemed totally the opposite. Chris couldn't help but feel incredibly stupid when Leon finally looked up at him, one elegant, groomed eyebrow raised.

"Really"? He said with mock interest. "And how exactly do I seem like a nice guy"? He challenged. When Chris could do nothing but shrug helplessly, Leon closed the file folder with a snap. "Please refrain from saying any old crap that comes into your head. I'll find it incredibly tiresome" He continued. "I've just looked over the brief" He nodded at the folder. "We can easily get the job done within a day or two. If you're as good as this Barry Burton says you are then who knows? We could even have this done in a matter of hours which, I can tell you, suits me just fine"

"Sure" Chris muttered, trying to fight the urge to reach across the expensive looking coffee table and grab his new partner by the throat. If it wasn't for the fact that Leon could leave him homeless in a country where he didn't speak the language, he'd definitely be tempted to teach the uppity younger man a lesson with his fists.

"I trust you've read the mission brief"? Leon asked with a look that said he didn't trust him at all.

"Sure I have" Chris shrugged. Of course he hadn't read the damn mission brief! But there was no way he was going to admit that now.

"Good" Leon got up and wandered into the open plan kitchen. "Then you'll know it's not without its risks" He plucked an apple from the wooden bowl in the centre of the pine table and bit into it. "This is just money for me and I'll be in a much better position to appreciate it if I haven't been killed because of a partner's incompetence"

"Well then, that makes two of us don't it"? Chris replied, trying not to sound as defensive as he felt and ignore his rumbling stomach. He wondered if Leon could hear it. He hadn't had anything to eat since the free peanuts. Was he allowed to just go and help himself or was there a decent takeaway around? He fumbled in the back pocket of his jeans for his wallet to check out his money situation. But his wallet wasn't there. A horrible wave of realisation hit him. He'd put his bag down in the airport when he'd bought a soda from one of the vending machines. A totally hot air hostess had walked past and he'd been distracted. He'd walked off with his soda and totally forgotten to pick up his bag. "Shit! I left my bag at the airport"!

"Well that was pretty dumb" Leon said calmly, taking another bite from the apple. Was it just Chris' imagination or was he biting into it obnoxiously loud? Chris suspected that the whole bag forgetting thing had made him go even further down in Leon's estimations of him.

"Well...yeah..." Chris scratched the back of his neck, feeling foolish. "It means I'm gonna...y'know, need some things...til I can get it back" He added sheepishly. Now he had even more things to rely on his unfriendly host for. He watched as Leon tossed his apple core into the bin. How was he going to put this without sounding even more retarded? "And...um...I don't really speak Spanish..."

"Write me a list" Leon shrugged. "I'm going shopping tomorrow morning anyway" He made for the stairs. "I suppose it would've been too much to ask that you learn a little of the language of the country you're going to before you go to it"? Without waiting for a reply, he calmly climbed the stairs leaving Chris alone.

As soon as his partner disappeared, Chris leapt up from his armchair and dived on the wooden fruit bowl. He plucked the bunch of bananas from it. He was starving! He quickly unpeeled one and stuffed half of it into his mouth. Chewing ferociously, he grabbed the notebook and pen that were on a small table beside the phone and sat down to write his list.

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Leon muttered to himself as he tried his best to decipher Chris' list. He wasn't expecting much now he'd actually met the oaf but legible handwriting would've been nice. He was beginning to think it would've been a hell of a lot simpler to get Chris to draw what he wanted. As soon as he'd woken up, he'd gotten on the phone to Dennis and asked about Chris' background. What he'd heard had, quite frankly, stunned him. On record, Chris Redfield was a highly trained individual with both military and police experience. He was a highly regarded marksman and leader and ranked highly in the BSAA. In reality, it was hard to believe that someone who couldn't write a shopping list clearly could be capable of such achievements. Leon hadn't yet complained to Dennis so Dennis had seen Leon's sudden interest in his new partner as a good thing. Leon let out a derisive snort. There would be no way in hell that he would ever get along with someone as oafish as Chris Redfield.

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Chris leant back until his head came into contact with the cushioned corner of the hot tub. It hadn't taken him very long at all to work out how the thing worked and it had taken even less time to shed all of his clothes and clamber in to its soothing waters. The heat from the water was relaxing and just as he'd imagined, it seemed to melt every scrap of tension from his muscles. This was his first time in a hot tub and he resolved to seek one out as soon as he returned home. As the bubbles gently massaged his body he wondered how often Leon used it. Maybe if Leon used it more, he wouldn't be so damn uptight all the time.

Living in Leon's house did have it perks though. Aside from the hot tub, his bed was very comfortable and he'd had a great night's sleep. The mattress was nice and soft and the pillows were clean and plump. The sheets had a wonderful fresh smell to them which was certainly a far cry from his own sheets at home. He'd woken up refreshed and decided to make a bee line straight for the hot tub. He'd slept naked and since Leon didn't seem to be around, he hadn't bothered to dress for his trip to the hot tub.

He did briefly wonder if his new partner would mind him using the hot tub but he decided that he didn't really care. It was pretty obvious that his presence in the house was such an annoyance that it probably wouldn't really matter what he did. Chris stretched and scratched his stomach lazily. He supposed it was time to start considering some form of breakfast. He doubted that Leon kept a healthy supply of Lucky Charms in his cupboard but he held out hope for some bacon. He hauled himself reluctantly out of the water and gave his hair a quick scrub with a nearby towel. He discarded it and turned round to find Leon standing by the double doors, a shocked expression on his face and a brown paper grocery bag in his arms. Chris jumped back slightly but made no effort to hide his nudity. Leon had probably already seen it anyway.

"I had no idea you were a peeping tom" He said with a quirk of his eyebrow as Leon stood there, seemingly frozen on the spot.

"At what point did I give you permission to use my hot tub"? Leon asked coldly. He averted his eyes so he was no longer faced with the sight of his new partner's genitals. Chris didn't appear to be in a hurry to cover up. "Naked" He added as an afterthought.

"I was all sweaty and achy from yesterday" Chris explained with a shrug. He bent down to retrieve the discarded towel and wrapped it around his waist. To Leon, the action seemed to take an age to complete. "I don't see what your problem is. We're both guys. It's not like I've got anything you haven't seen before" He nodded at the bag. "Is that my stuff"? He took the bag from his arms and padded back into the house leaving Leon still standing there.

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Chris spent the rest of the morning drifting around the house, looking for things to do. Unfortunately, Leon's house didn't have any of the things he liked. There were no comics, no games consoles. Leon didn't even seem to own a TV. He had countless books but none of them really interested Chris. Just when he thought he was about to die of boredom, he found a gun magazine in the magazine rack by the side of the sofa. He proceeded to read it from cover to cover whilst Leon read through files and tapped away continuously at his laptop, all the while not saying a word.

It came as a surprise therefore, when Leon suddenly announced that he would be preparing lunch for them both. Leon hadn't said a word about it, but Chris guessed that his new partner felt a little uncomfortable about seeing him in the nude. Not that he could blame him, Chris thought to himself, he was a pretty impressive guy to look at. He imagined that Leon probably felt threatened by having someone around the place who could so easily kick his ass. By the time he'd done with the gun magazine, Leon was at the kitchen table, serving up a delicious looking stew. Chris dropped the magazine and hurried to take a seat at the table.

It was beautifully laid out, cups and bowls all matching, the large stew dish in the middle with plenty still in for additional helpings. Alongside this was a bowl containing some crusty bread to go with it. He helped himself immediately and it all tasted as delicious as it looked and smelled. Chris was on his second bowlful when he decided to break the silence at the table.

"You're not still bugged about the hot tub thing are you"? He asked through a mouthful of the stew. If this one meal was anything to go by, Leon was an amazing cook. Way better than him and perhaps even better than Jill.

"Why would I be bothered"? Leon asked smoothly. He'd been glancing at a newspaper while he'd been eating but now he was looking at Chris with very thinly veiled irritation. It was a look that was becoming all too familiar.

"I dunno. You just looked it" Chris shrugged. "I guess I'm sorry I didn't ask your permission to use it or anything. I figured you wouldn't really care. As for the whole naked thing, well, I didn't wanna just take something of yours. I don't know about you but I don't feel right going commando in another man's fatigues. If you get my drift" He shrugged again and bit off another hunk of bread. "Unless that's your thing of course" He added as he drank the remnants of his bowl. Leon opened his mouth to reply but he was quickly cut off. "Don't get me wrong. I've got nothing against gay guys. Everyone's entitled to get theirs and it doesn't matter who with. Personally I prefer women" He stuck his finger in the bowl and ran it around the rim before licking it clean noisily. "Anyway, even if I was, I don't really think the gays would go for a guy like me" He pushed his bowl away and grabbed an apple from the wooden fruit bowl. "You've probably noticed that I stink" He crunched the apple loudly. "I smoke a lot and I can never turn down a beer"

"Some guys wouldn't mind that" Leon replied quietly. "You shouldn't listen to stereotypes" He wondered why Chris seemed so eager to talk to him. He'd never known anyone to talk so much and so suddenly. And where the hell had that little monologue on sexuality come from? Was it him or had that come straight out of left field?

"Jill didn't like it" Chris grinned, still munching on the apple. A bit of the juice was starting to dribble down his stubbly chin. "She's an old friend of mine. We dated a while back but it didn't really work out. She said I was too much of an oaf for her" He added with a smile. "Anyway, that's enough about me. How come you're here"?

"You say that like I'm not here by choice" Leon answered, pushing his own half empty bowl of stew away. The sights and sounds of Chris devouring the apple would be too much for even the strongest of stomachs.

"Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall, you know that"? Chris was now done with the apple and was in the process of lighting a cigarette. "We should at least try to get to know each other"

"Why"? Leon challenged. "I told you before. This is just money to me. Nothing more. I don't need friends" He said, getting up from the table and gathering together the dirty bowls and cups. "I'd ask you not to smoke in the house but chances are you'll probably ignore me" He spat. "Oh, by the way" He dumped the dirty dishes in the sink. "I assume the toiletries I bought for you are to your liking? I don't fancy the idea of making a second trip"

"Yeah, they're fine" Chris stubbed his cigarette out on his side plate. Leon probably had a point when it came to the ignoring thing but for now he figured he should respect the house rules. The thought of Leon kicking him out still hung over his head. "The only problem now is clothes" He added. "I've only got these" He pointed to the clothes he was wearing which were already beginning to smell less than fresh. He dreaded to think the state they'd be in after the mission.

"I can wash those for you" Leon replied, filling the sink with water. He kept his back to Chris as he spoke. "Just leave them outside your room when you go to bed. I'd say I hope you don't mind sleeping naked but frankly I wouldn't mean it and I know that you wouldn't mind it"

"Of course I wouldn't" Chris replied with a knowing grin.

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Chris awoke the next morning to a totally silent house. Again, this was something that he wasn't used to. There was always some kind of noise in his apartment building, whether it was the sounds of people leaving for work or the people above flushing their toilet or taking showers. It was ever so slightly disconcerting. As he rolled over in bed, he could see the rays of sunlight peeking through a crack in the curtains. Using that as his logic, he figured it was a pretty nice day outside. He moved back onto his back and idly stroked his semi-erect penis. He hadn't had much in the way of sex in a while and it seemed that sleeping naked had aroused him. He wouldn't if Leon would be pissed if he got spunk on the immaculate sheets. He supposed he could always do it into one of his socks but, considering he only had one pair of socks right now, it didn't seem like the best of ideas. He quickly decided that masturbating seemed more trouble than it was worth at the moment and he would only do so if his slight morning wood refused to go away.

A few minutes later and he was fine to get up. He rolled out of bed and grabbed the discarded towel from the carpet. As Leon had requested, he'd left his clothes outside the door the previous night. For Leon's benefit, he wrapped the towel around his waist to cover himself up. There seemed to be no signs of life as he wandered down the stairs and into the kitchen area. He could only assume that Leon was out doing the shopping or something like that. He stretched and looked out of the kitchen window to see his now clean clothes flapping in the breeze on a washing line. Chris never really understood the point of drying clothes outside. Jill had always said something about it making them smell nice but the only time Chris had tried line drying his clothes, a bird had come along and crapped on them so understandably, he was sour on that particular subject.

He turned his attentions to breakfast. He had a quick root through the kitchen cupboards and came across a box of cereal. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't a box of Lucky Charms, but some horrible healthy fibre crap. Deciding to make the best of what he had, he poured himself a big bowlful and added a liberal splash of milk as well as four spoonfuls of sugar before sitting down on the sofa and digging in. If he'd been at home, he'd have spent his morning watching TV or playing a few rounds of Call of Duty but neither of those were an option at Leon's house. Aside from the hot tub, Leon didn't seem to have much that he could use to wind down. Maybe that was why he was such an asshole.

Chris almost dropped his bowl of cereal as he heard the front door bang. Leon entered the lounge area carrying a couple of plastic bags. He was dressed a little more casually this time, in black jeans and a black t-shirt. He didn't look particularly pleased to see Chris eating on the sofa.

"What's in those"? Chris asked, spraying half masticated cereal and milk over the arm of the sofa.

"I picked some clothes up for you" Leon replied, looking disgusted at the sudden mess. "I took the liberty of phoning the airport for you considering you don't speak a word of Spanish. They said they'd look into it for you and phone back when they find it"

And it was things like that that utterly confused Chris. One minute Leon was making snide comments at him like he really couldn't stand him, the next he was doing nice things for him like calling the airport on his behalf. Chris had never known anything like it.

"You mean you did something nice"? He blurted, regretting it almost immediately. Leon didn't say anything, but he rolled his eyes and dumped the bags by the arm of the sofa.

"If you want to look at it that way then yes" He said, heading into the kitchen area and grabbing a nearby tea towel.

"How did you know what size to get me"? Chris asked, nodding at the bags on the floor.

"How do you think"? Leon said as he wiped the cereal and milk mess off the arm of the sofa. Chris was learning very quickly that Leon was an extremely tidy person and couldn't abide mess of any kind.

"Um...you guessed"? Chris suggested. He had no clue what clothes sizes people were but maybe Leon was one of those people who could just guess and get it right.

"Of course I didn't guess" Leon snapped. He was back in the kitchen now, getting himself a drink of orange juice from the large American style fridge. "I just looked at the labels in your clothes. Any idiot would think to do that" He looked pointedly at him knowing full well Chris wouldn't have thought of something like that.

"Alright. There's no need to be a jerk about it" Chris shrugged, feeling his anger rising. He dumped his cereal bowl on the coffee table for the simple fact that he knew the act would piss his partner off. It was the small victories like that that made him feel better. He grabbed the bags. "I'll go and try these on then" He muttered as he headed for the stairs.

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"Dennis, enough is enough alright"? Leon was trying his hardest not to shout down the phone but Dennis was being particularly annoying. He'd held off from complaining about Chris for as long as he could but he was just about at breaking point. He shouldn't have accepted the whole partner thing. He knew from the off that it would be a mistake. It wasn't as if he even needed the money anyway. He could've just hung around for a while, waited for a more desirable or, more importantly, solo mission to crop up. If he'd stuck to his guns and said no from the beginning, he wouldn't be stuck with what was probably the most annoying man in the world. "You're going to have to get rid of him. He's lazy, he's stupid, he's incompetent, he doesn't listen and he's just going to slow me and this mission down"

"Is that all that's wrong with Mr Redfield"? Dennis sounded amused. "Don't worry about it. You know his background. He's highly skilled and experienced" He continued. Leon could hear the tapping of his fingers on the keyboard as he spoke. "I know you're not a fan of working with others but whatever problems you're having, I'm sure you can overcome them. If it makes the deal any sweeter then I'm sure I can arrange for your money to be doubled"

"It's not the money Dennis" Leon sighed. "It's-"

"Then perhaps triple"? Dennis offered. "I can't stress how potentially dangerous this mission is. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt or even killed because you're adamant about working alone. You can only play the part of lone wolf for so long Leon" He sighed. "Look, I'm going to have to go. I have an important meeting to attend. I don't want to play hard ball with you but I would prefer that our next professional contact be a status report on the mission"

With that, Dennis hung up. Leon knew there was no point complaining about Chris again. When Dennis entered his hard ass mode, it meant it was the end of any discussion.

"For fuck's sake"! He cursed, hurling his phone at the sofa. "Why must I be cursed with a partner who wouldn't look out of place in Planet of the Apes!..." Leon's voice trailed off as he turned round and found himself face to face with Chris. The older man was wearing the khaki combats and black t-shirt he'd purchased for him.

"I was coming to apologise for calling you a jerk" Chris said calmly. He folded his arms across his broad chest. The effect was somewhat intimidating. "You're not a jerk really. You've let me stay here and you've cooked and you've bought stuff for me and for that I'm grateful" He cleared his throat and looked rather hurt. "I didn't realise that your opinion of me was that low"

Leon automatically opened his mouth to protest and tell Chris that he hadn't meant what he said but stopped himself. He had to credit Chris with some intelligence. It was pretty obvious to anyone that he meant every single word he'd said.

"I suppose it shows that you actually have feelings" Chris continued with a shrug of his shoulders. It wasn't the casual, careless shrug Leon was used to. It was more forlorn. "Here was me thinking that you were this weird impenetrable ice man. Do you think that maybe you could at the very least try to be civil? I mean, you've made it pretty clear that you don't do partners or friends or whatever but if you made an effort to be nice and maybe open up at bit it might make our time together a little easier"

"I can do that" Leon said. Chris' hurt expression disappeared and he smiled, giving Leon an encouraging thumbs up. Leon almost smiled.

0000000

"If there was a speed limit around here I'm pretty sure you'd be breaking it right now" Leon moaned as he clung to the Jeep's dashboard. Now that Chris was relatively settled, they'd started to make headway on the mission. Over a meal last night, they'd studied the mission brief and their first port of call was a cave in the nearby mountains that needed further investigation. There'd been reports of strange activity around the cave and witnesses had made statements about strange vehicles coming and going at all times of day and night. They'd agreed to investigate and Leon had stupidly agreed to let Chris do the driving.

"You should've seen the look on her face when she came home from work"! Chris, seemingly unaware of Leon's frustration, was carrying on with his anecdote. "I mean, she was acting like I'd clubbed a baby seal to death not just made a little mess! How was I supposed to know that stupid blender had a lid"?

"It's generally how you stop the liquid coming out" Leon replied sardonically. Chris however, didn't seem fazed.

"She didn't let me forget that one for ages" He added as he pulled the Jeep to a sudden stop. Leon was almost flung through the windscreen. Wanting to get out of the Jeep as soon as possible, he leapt out of the passenger seat and hurried around to the trunk. Chris joined in and the pair equipped themselves with magnums. Chris also grabbed a shotgun and Leon took his own personal hand gun, the Silver Ghost.

"Dennis seems to think that this cave might be an entrance to a secret facility" Leon said, nodding towards the cave entrance. He strapped a couple of first aid sprays to his belt and handed Chris a torch. "We don't take any stupid risks, we don't shoot who we don't need to and we bring back evidence. We're not taking this place down understand? This is just to scout out the situation. Ready"?

"Locked and loaded partner" Chris replied with a suggestive smile.

0000000

"Well, I wouldn't say this cave looks strange" Chris commented, swinging the beam from his torch across the cave's damp walls.

"Do you ever stop talking"? Leon asked with distaste. He moved around the cave slowly, letting the hip light on his belt guide him. The floor seemed to be as damp as the walls so he trod carefully. He would never admit it, but it was starting to look like Chris was right. They'd been examining it for almost fifteen minutes and had yet to find anything out of the ordinary. The cave looked exactly like any other cave you might come across. It wasn't like Dennis' sources to be wrong though. If there was nothing strange going on, how did it explain the witness statements?

"I hate silence is all" Chris interrupted Leon's thoughts with yet another inane comment of absolutely no relevance to the mission at hand. He decided not to justify it with a response. Whilst he had agreed to make more of an effort with Chris, it didn't mean he had to force small talk. He ran his gloved hand across the damp stone wall, hoping to feel for some sort of switch or lever. There had to be something they were missing!

"Fuck"! Chris sudden explained. Leon turned around and, in the low light, he could see the shape of his bulky partner hopping around the cave.

"What did you do now"? He asked coldly.

"That's real nice that is" Chris spat, still hopping. "I just nearly broke my fucking foot cos of something stupid thing sticking out of the ground and-"

At that, Leon raced over to where Chris was hopping and dropped to his knees. He scanned the area with his hip light, looking for the thing that Chris had tripped over. A thick metal handle was sticking out of the ground barely a foot away from him. He crawled forward and, on closer inspection, the handle was attached to what looked like a very heavy manhole cover.

"I'm fine by the way" Chris continued sarcastically. He'd stopped his hopping but he was now shifting from foot to foot, obviously still in pain. Leon snorted, if the big brave ex Air Force guy couldn't handle a little pain then he really needed to grow a pair.

"Are you helping me with this or not"? Leon demanded. The handle was long enough for two people to hold at the same time. It looked as if it was designed that way. After a moan and a wounded look, Chris limped over and, on Leon's count of three, the two of them grabbed the handle and pulled hard.

The manhole cover opened with a rusty creak and a dim light flooded the cave around them. A metal ladder lead downwards into the hole, but it was too long for them to see exactly what it led to.

"You ready"? Leon nodded at the ladder. "I'll go first" He added without waiting for Chris' reply. They'd finally found what they were looking for and that was a good sign. If the whole mission went as smoothly then it wouldn't be long before his new partner would be on a plane back to America and his life could get back to normal with no irritating interruptions.

000000

The trip down the ladder was long and uneventful. The rungs seemed endless as they went further and further underground. Chris seemed to be finally keeping his mouth shut and Leon wasn't in any hurry to invite the oaf to start talking again. The further down the narrow hole they went, the colder the temperature got. When the passage finally widened and they got to the bottom of the ladder, they found themselves in a corridor. The walls and ceiling were constructed from sheets of dull grey metal and the floor was made up of a series of tarnished metal grills. Leon looked down to see a tangled network of pipes underneath the grills. The corridor led both to the left and to the right.

"This way" Leon nodded to the left and was surprised to find absolutely no argument from his partner. They had no map or guide to help them so Leon was working on instinct alone. Could it be that his new partner was finally starting to show him a bit of respect and actually letting him get on with his job? He turned around to give Chris some further instruction but he wasn't there. Since Chris hadn't passed him, the only logical direction he could've gone was to the right. Leon rolled his eyes. He knew it was all too good to be true to actually expect his partner to behave. He sloped angrily down the corridor to the right and soon found his wayward partner who seemed to be studying a large metal door with great interest. The door was at least twice his partner's height and width and had a keypad to the left. It was this keypad that Chris seemed interested in, examining it with a hand on his hip. Leon glared at his partner's wide back before stalking over to him.

"This is a big door" Chris commented when Leon approached him. "I'm willing to bet there's something important behind it" He added, still puzzling over the keypad.

"I said we were going left" Leon replied through gritted teeth. He resisted the urge to shout, not wanting to possibly draw attention to their presence. Chris, as seemed to be usual now, totally disregarded his comment and started to type seemingly random numbers into the keypad. "What the hell are you doing"? He snarled as Chris continued to tap away at the keypad. Eventually, it admitted a loud bleep.

"There" Chris grinned at Leon, oblivious to the younger man's icy glare. "If you try to guess the password on these things, the system locks you out after a few tries"

"So what"? Snapped Leon rudely.

"Well usually when the system locks you out then you need a call an engineer to unlock it for you. They all use the same code and I happen to know the engineer's code for this particular model" Chris smirked at him smugly. Leon shook his head in despair and, in doing so, he noticed an odd gooey liquid seeping out from under the door. A strange smell suddenly invaded his nostrils. It smelt like a mixture of rotting flesh and old damp carpet. He hadn't smelt anything so foul since the streets of Raccoon City.

"Don't touch that keypad"! He ordered, taking a few steps back. He instinctively reached for his magnum. The door emitted a double beep and, to his horror, started to slide upwards. As the door slowly opened, the smell got a lot worse.

"Oops" came Chris' sheepish reply. The door was opening at an alarming rate. They could turn around and run but if there was something behind it, it would almost certainly catch up with them before they could reach the ladder. Leon couldn't believe that the mission had gone wrong so quickly. So much for the quick in and out reconnaissance trip. The smell was choking now and it was accompanied by a low, guttural moan.

Suddenly, with a sound similar to a whip cracking, a large thick tentacle shot out from the widening gap. Chris let out a surprised gasp and grabbed his magnum. He and Leon opened fire on the tentacle which was thrashing around wildly. It was thick and pulsating and covered in brutal looking spines. Instead of exploding in a mess of blood and gore as Chris expected, its slimy flesh seemed to repel the bullets.

"Shit! Bullets just bounce off of this thing"! He exclaimed.

"We can't do this" Leon shouted back, dodging the tentacle. "We're not prepared. We need to go back"

"The override switch"! Chris nodded towards the keypad. He reached for it but was beaten back by the tentacle. The door was still opening and now the gap was bigger, more tentacles were joining the first, squeezing through the gap and filling the corridor. "Fuck" Chris cursed. He took aim and fired. There was no time for messing about with switches. He needed to take action now. His bullet hit the keypad and it exploded in a mass of sparks. The door made a horrible screeching, grating noise and stopped moving. Leon dodged the flying debris of the keypad and with another horrible whip crack, one of the tentacles shot out, striking him across the left side of his body. With a grunt of pain, he almost collapsed to the floor. He saved himself just in time and dodged to the side, albeit clumsily, as the tentacle went for a second attack. He swayed as he righted himself. Chris darted forward and grabbed hold of his partner's shoulder, yanking him out of the way and pushing down the corridor in the direction of the ladder.

Whatever was behind the door certainly wasn't impressed at its potential escape route being cut off. With its tentacles still flailing, it started to ram itself bodily into the metal. Chris felt his heart race as its first impact made a considerable dent in the door. He certainly didn't want to see what those tentacles belonged to.

"Let's get out of here" He yelled as he started to run down the corridor. Leon was a little in front, but seemed to be slowing down. Bright red blood was starting to stain his fitted top and he was gripping his side. Chris ran over to the younger man's uninjured side and tried to wrap an arm around his hips in an effort to support him.

"I don't need you" Leon spat as he tried to move away, almost overbalancing.

"Bullshit" Chris said with a quick glance behind them. The corridor was shaking with the efforts of the monster as it tried to break through the door. It was beginning to buckle worryingly. They needed to get to the ladder and soon. Ignore his partner's tone and filthy looks, he lifted him bodily into his arms.

"What the fuck are you doing"? Leon demanded angrily. "Put me the fuck down you big fucking oaf"! He tried to struggle free but grunted when a sharp shot of pain jolted up his side. He could already feel himself getting weak from loss of blood.

"My my Mr Kennedy, that's quite an F Bomb" Chris replied as he continued to thunder down the corridor. "You're gonna have to climb on my back" He said as they reached the ladder. He released Leon who made for the ladder instantly.

"I'm fine" He said stubbornly, stepping onto the first rung. Chris raised a doubtful eyebrow and waited. Leon lifted his right arm with no trouble but when it came to hauling himself up, he faltered. He looked up at the long ladder and knew there was no way in hell he'd be able to make it all the way up under his own steam without losing consciousness. As much as it really bothered him to admit it, he needed his partner right now. Without another word, he grudgingly stepped down from the ladder and nodded at Chris. Chris offered him a goofy grin and squatted down, allowing him to climb up his broad back. Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Leon wrapped his arms around the older man's thick neck. A loud roar from further down the corridor urged Chris onto the ladder.

"Let's get out of here" He said as he started to climb. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the amount of blood that was smeared across Leon's arm from where he'd been holding his injured side. It looked like a lot. He knew that the wound must be agony but his partner was keeping a stubborn, stoic silence. All he could hear as he continued to climb was the distant rumblings from the monster and Leon's pained breathing.

Fortunately, the hole at the top was wide enough for them both to get through without Chris having to dislodge Leon from his back. As soon as he was through the hole, Leon started to squirm in an effort to get down from his back.

"I can walk now..." He muttered, releasing Chris' neck and sliding down. Chris cast a nervous glance in his direction. Leon looked awful. His face was pale and his forehead was sweaty. It was the first time that Chris had seen him look anything other than composed and it worried him. The younger man's mouth was set in a grim line of pain and his grey eyes were dull. His eyes suddenly widened when a roar, louder than before, echoed in the cave. He stumbled backwards as the tip of a tentacle appeared from the hole. Chris, thinking fast, grabbed one of the incendiary grenades from his gun belt and tossed it down the hole. He and Leon barely had time to dive out of the way before it exploded, sending a burst of flame down the hole. The monster let out a horrible high pitched scream of pain and the tentacle wilted back into the dark depths of the hole.

"Shit that was close" Chris breathed out, wiping his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand and wiping it on his t-shirt. It wasn't a surprise that he didn't get a reply from Leon but more worrying was the fact that he hadn't gotten back to his feet after the dive. "Fuck"! He cursed, running over to his partner, skidding slightly in the dust. Leon was laying on his uninjured side moaning softly. Chris knelt down beside him.

"We need...to get out of here..." Leon mumbled.

"I know. I just need to check you out first" Chris replied, gently peeling back Leon's fitted top. It was saturated with blood. He felt a wave of nausea hit him as he observed the wound. He didn't want to say it out loud but it looked bad. It seemed that one of the tentacle's spines had ripped into Leon's side, causing a nasty looking gash that was still steadily oozing blood. Chris struggled to recall what his old friend Rebecca Chambers had told him about basic first aid. He'd never been any good at remembering stuff like that. His first priority, he figured, was to try and slow down the blood flow. He pulled off his own t-shirt, grateful that he'd chosen to wear one of the vests Leon had bought him underneath it. He quickly ripped the t-shirt into rough strips and wordlessly started to wind them around Leon's side, putting on as much pressure as he dared. Leon moaned but didn't say anything. The gash was definitely going to need stitches but he'd worry about that later. The makeshift t-shirt bandage would have to do for the mean time. Leon continued to accept this help wordlessly but Chris could tell it was making the younger man uncomfortable to appear so vulnerable. "Do you think you can stand up"? He asked as he pulled the fitted top back down over the bandage.

"Yeah..." Leon replied unconvincingly. He tried to haul himself up into a sitting position but he was obviously starting to feel light headed.

"Right, I'll carry you" Chris said. He didn't wait for Leon to object. He gently placed his arms under his partner's body and once again lifted him into his arms. Leon's face screwed up in pain at the sudden movement but he didn't protest. Chris walked as quickly as he dared back to the Jeep. Luckily, nobody seemed to be in a hurry to come and investigate the explosion from the grenade. Hopefully that meant that the facility was unstaffed. When they made it back to the Jeep, Chris helped Leon into the passenger seat before getting into the vehicle himself. He turned on the engine and flicked on the radio. It blared out the opening notes of the classic disco song 'I Will Survive' by Gloria Gaynor. Chris couldn't help but see the irony. He wasn't sure whether he was genuinely amused or whether he was just relieved to be alive, but he started to laugh. This seemed to draw a glare, albeit a weak one, from Leon.

"Oh come on, it's funny" Chris said, gesturing towards the radio. Leon narrowed his eyes and shook his head, slumping down in his seat. Chris rolled his eyes and pulled away from the cave entrance. He'd prefer to never return but now they'd found proof that the facility existed, it didn't seem very likely. "I don't wanna bug you when you're feeling shit but I really don't get you. What's the deal with this whole non emotion showing robot ice man thing you've got going on or is it just some act"?

"If you don't want to bug me you should shut up" Leon replied, closing his eyes. His side was really beginning to hurt now and he was feeling faint from the loss of blood.

"Well you could at least thank me for saving your ass back there" Chris continued as he pulled out onto the main mountain road that would lead them back into the city.

"Or I could berate you for nearly getting us killed" Leon said smoothly, his eyes still closed. "I told you we were going left and you just chose to ignore me" He shook his head. "Do me a favour and do what I say next time" It wasn't a request but a downright order. Chris sighed heavily and concentrated on his driving. He was beginning to think that there was no getting through to this guy.

"You're gonna have to direct me to the hospital"

"No" Leon replied simply. "We're going back to the house"

"You need medical attention..." Chris argued. His partner's stubborn side was really beginning to get on his nerves.

"That's my problem not yours. Take me back to the house"

"Whatever you say" Chris said, resigned. If Leon didn't want to go to the hospital then he couldn't make him. It looked as if Leon hadn't meant it when he'd said that he'd tried to be civil.

000000

The drive back to Leon's house was long and full of silence. Chris hadn't wanted to drive too fast in case it caused the younger man pain. Leon had declined his offer of help and had awkwardly limped to the front door, still bleeding. Once inside, Chris had attempted to help but Leon swore at him violently. He could only watch helplessly as his partner pulled a first aid kit out of a cupboard and slowly climbed the stairs. Seconds later, Chris heard the bathroom door slam. He flopped down into the armchair and wondered if he should call Dennis. He couldn't imagine that Leon would be very pleased if he did that. He sighed heavily. He couldn't imagine that Leon was ever very pleased. But it was too late to back out now. They'd found out that something certainly was going on in the depths of the cave and that meant they had to see it through whether they wanted to or not. It was times like this that Chris resented his crusade against bio-terrorism.

The phone started ringing. There were no stirrings from upstairs. Chris wondered whether or not he should answer. He let it ring a couple more times and then made an executive decision. So what if Leon was pissed that he answered it? Leon was pissed full stop.

"Hello"?

"Good Afternoon, may I speak to Mr Chris Redfield"? A kind voice asked. She had a Spanish accent but her command of English was very good.

"That's me" Chris replied.

"I'm calling in regards to some baggage that was reported missing" The woman continued. "I have an update for you but unfortunately the news isn't good I'm afraid. We haven't been able to locate your bag in our lost property department. It would seem that your bag was removed from the area you left it in by someone other than a member of our staff"

"It got stolen"?

"It very much looks that way Sir"

"Shit. Well, thanks for the call" Chris replied, replacing the handset. That was a pain in the ass. He hadn't had anything particularly valuable in his bag but it did mean he was going to have to cancel his credit cards and sort out a new passport. He jumped as he heard the stairs creak. Leon was slowly climbing down them, dressed in grey sweatpants and a plain black t-shirt. Chris could make out the soft bulk of a bandage on his left side. The younger man was still horribly pale and looked like he needed a good long rest. He wordlessly took a seat on the sofa and grabbed his laptop. Chris figured that he was sending a mission report to Dennis or something. He'd probably also be mentioning Chris' act of insubordination. Chris flopped back into the armchair. He wasn't going to even try and argue. He didn't think he'd done anything wrong. Splitting up meant they had the chance to cover more ground and get the job done quicker and wasn't that what Leon wanted? It had always worked for him and Jill. She'd go one way, he'd go the other and the job would be done before they knew it. He supposed he did feel guilty that Leon got hurt but that was a risk of their job. He sighed heavily once more.

"I could do with a drink" He said aloud, staring up at the ceiling. He wasn't expecting any sort of response so it was a surprise when Leon spoke.

"I don't have beer if that's what you're thinking" He said. Well that was a big surprise. Leon didn't look like the beer drinking type. If he did indeed drink, it would probably be something really uppity and snobby like red wine. Chris pulled a face. He hated wine. Leon looked up from his laptop. "But I do have some whiskey. It's in the cupboard next to the fridge. You can fetch me a glass too"

"Should you really be drinking in your state"? Chris asked trying not to sound concerned. He didn't really want Leon knowing that he actually kind of cared. He hauled himself out of his chair and padded into the kitchen area.

"Sometimes only a stiff drink will do" Leon replied as Chris started to root around in the cupboard. He located the amber liquid and returned with the bottle and two glasses. He pressed one into Leon's outstretched hand. Chris shrugged and poured him a healthy measure. Hell, he wasn't Leon's nurse. If he wanted to have a drink then it was Leon's look out, not his. He poured himself a glass and dumped the bottle on the coffee table between them. He settled back into the comfortable armchair and drained half his glass in one gulp. After the stresses of the day, the warming liquid was welcome. He felt his body relax as the whiskey burned the back of his throat. He loved the warm feeling in his stomach that would follow. Leon was right. Sometimes only a stiff drink would do.

Chris watched Leon work for a while, slowly knocking back more of the whiskey. He didn't consider himself an expert on the stuff but it seemed expensive. It figured. Leon seemed like the type to have expensive tastes. The clothes that he'd bought to replace Chris' missing ones were a better quality than Chris was used to. He wondered how much they'd cost. Leon hadn't even asked him for any money back. Chris wasn't sure what to make of Leon. He was certainly a confusing character but didn't seem like bad person. He supposed that he deserved an apology.

"Sorry I screwed up back there" He said suddenly, before he could change his mind. "I guess I didn't do all that much to raise your expectations of me"

"Don't worry" Leon replied shortly, knocking back his drink in one. "They weren't high to begin with. I've always thought that you were the gung-ho, act first think later type and today you proved me right" He wiped his mouth and ran a hand through his blonde hair. His forehead had a light sheen of sweat glistening on it and he seemed to be in pain. It was on the tip of Chris' tongue to ask him how he was feeling but Leon's words had stung and had sort of hurt his feelings. After all, he'd only tried to apologise and that was because he thought it was the polite thing to do not because he'd actually done something wrong. He finished his second glassful and poured himself another large measure. He slid the bottle over to Leon who did the same. Chris watched the whiskey swirl around in his glass for a moment. He opened his mouth to try and defend himself but Leon, now seemingly on the warpath, beat him to the punch.

"I don't get you" He said acidly. "You're supposed to be elite" He pushed the laptop to one side. "You have extensive training, both military and police, and I would've thought that that meant you'd be able to follow a simple command. I asked you to go in a specific direction and you did the opposite. I asked you not to interfere with that damn keypad and you did the opposite yet again. Your inability to follow these two simple commands endangered both of our lives and the status of the mission"

"You're a pompous ass" Chris shot back. He drained his glass and poured another one. He was done trying to argue back logically. The alcohol was loosening his inhibitions and he'd had enough of Leon's bad attitude and snarky tone. "You'd had a downer on me since I first stepped foot into Dennis' office. You act like you're this perfect example that we should all follow but guess what buddy, you're just a guy" He could hear that he was slurring his words and probably sounded stupid but he was past caring. He was taking his chance to call Leon on his behaviour and he wasn't going to stop now. He was a beer drinker by nature and wasn't used to whiskey, its effects seemed to be fuelled by the anger he felt at his partner. "You need to learn to actually communicate with words, not filthy looks and snorts like some bitch. It's not healthy to keep your emotions bottled up, it's not natural. I'm not surprised you don't do partners. No-one in their right mind would ever choose to work with an ass like you"

"Feel better now"? Leon calmly downed his glass and helped himself to more. "Don't presume to know anything about me" He added sharply. "You don't know a thing about me"

"I know you're a pompous ass" Chris repeated his earlier insult. He'd ditched the stupid glass now and was taking direct hits from the bottle. "I thought you were gonna try and make the effort to get along with me. Remember that? You're doing a pretty crap job of it" His head was starting to feel fuzzy from the whiskey and it made it harder for him to think straight. He looked over at Leon who'd had just as much as him to drink but still seemed to be as calm and collected as ever. What the hell was it with this guy? Did anything make him react? It wasn't even any fun to argue with the guy cos he just took whatever you said and replied in that stupid calm voice. "So" He said, wanting to move on from his tirade. "How's your side"?

"The alcohol has helped" Leon answered, he reached over and snatched the bottle. He took a swig straight from it. Chris grinned at this unexpected action. Maybe Leon was a little drunker than he seemed.

"You know that's like we just kissed" Chris slurred after Leon was done drinking. Leon rolled his eyes at him and passed the bottle back.

"Maybe if you're eight years old" He replied in a tone quite unlike the one Chris was familiar with. It was no longer sarcastic or acidic and could almost be considered to be good natured. Chris wondered if the alcohol was finally beginning to loosen his partner up a bit. That definitely wouldn't be a bad thing.

"So, how did you end up working for the Government"? Chris asked. The younger man was a total mystery to him and he figured that he might as well try and take advantage of his partner's sudden loss of inhibitions and more relaxed nature.

"I was a cop" Leon replied as he laid down on the sofa, resting his head on the squashy arm and propping his feet up on a cushion. "It was my first day as a fully fledged cop and I arrived in a city that just happened to have experienced a major viral outbreak"

"Raccoon"? Chris offered. Leon turned to look at him, unable to hide the look of surprise on his face. Chris flashed a small smile. "Yeah. I know all about that. Don't suppose you heard of the mansion incident"?

"The incident that got the S.T.A.R.S team suspended" Leon confirmed. "That's how I ended up getting a job with the RPD. I was the first of eight new recruits. The team I was assigned to was a special forces team to replace S.T.A.R.S" He explained. He reached out for the whiskey bottle and Chris gladly passed it over. "It was like driving straight into hell. Everywhere you looked there were bodies, dead and decaying, feasting on other corpses...the smell of rotting flesh hanging in the air...hell on earth" He took a deep swig, refusing to make eye contact. He hadn't spoken about Raccoon for years. The alcohol was clouding his mind, making it harder for him to think. He hadn't intended to share so much but it'd just come out. It was scary how natural it felt. He hadn't felt a connection like this since...since Jack.

"My sister was on her way to find me but luckily I managed to get a message to her telling her to stay away. Otherwise she'd have walked straight into it as well" Chris shuddered at the thought of his little sister trapped in such a nightmare. "I'd hate to think what could've happened to her. Don't get me wrong, she's tough, but still..."

"I found a child" Leon carried on speaking with a far away look in his eyes, almost as if he hadn't heard Chris speak at all. It was almost like he couldn't stop talking now that he'd started. "Sherry her name was. She'd been trapped in the police station for days. She was terrified. Couldn't find her parents...couldn't find anyone" He swallowed hard. "She was being followed the whole time by this...this thing...this monster who turned out to be the remains of her father. I managed to get her out of there and out of that city...eventually the government tracked me down and I didn't really have much of choice regarding working for them"

"Do you still see Sherry"? Chris might be a little drunk but he could tell he was sailing into dangerous waters. He only needed to look at Leon to see that his past still bothered him. He could tell from the way Leon had said Sherry's name that he obviously still cared about her a lot. Not that Chris could blame him. They'd been through hell and back and had escaped together. That sort of experience formed strong bonds. Chris knew that from experience.

"I took care of her for a while" Leon answered. "But I don't see her now" He continued guardedly. He still didn't meet Chris' eyes and continued to stare up at the ceiling as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. It was clear that Sherry was a very sensitive subject. Chris reached for the bottle and took another big sip. Emboldened by the fiery alcohol raging down his throat, he reached out and gave Leon's shoulder a quick pat.

"I'm sorry Leon" He said gently. He wasn't really sure why. It could've been for the whole Raccoon city misfortune or it could've been a genuine apology for what happened back at the facility. He braced himself for the inevitable vitriolic comment. It came as a surprise when Leon simply looked at the hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks" He replied quietly. His lips quirked slightly as if he was about to smile but he didn't allow it to get that far. Chris kept his hand on Leon's shoulder. All in all, it hadn't been a wholly unpleasant evening and there was something strangely natural about the way his hand rested on the younger man's shoulder.

End of Chapter One


	2. Chapter 2

The Facility Revisited -Chapter Two

It was just after midday when Chris finally woke up. His limbs were shaking and his head was pounding in the familiar symphony of a hangover. He had the bleary eyes and dry mouth that reminded him of his nights out in J's Bar. His whole body ached and he suddenly became aware of the various bruises he'd sustained whilst diving out of the way of the incendiary grenade. He tried his best to sit up, wincing in pain when the movement proved to be too much for his headache to cope with. An annoying amount of sunlight was coming through the gap in the curtains. He closed his eyes, resting his head back on his pillow, and moaned. He'd always known that he couldn't hold his own against spirits. Give him a few beers and he'd be fine. Whiskey on the other hand...

He didn't remember much after his talk with Leon about Raccoon and Sherry. He certainly didn't remember going to bed although he had a vague recollection of puking a few times in the bathroom. He rolled over gently and spotted a glass of water on his beside table. He knew that he wouldn't have had the sense to put it there.

"Leon..." He mumbled quietly, recalling their conversation from last night. The younger man's drunken revelation had made him seem a lot more human and it made Chris realise that the emotionless, iceman persona was just that, a persona. He supposed that he'd always known that someone couldn't possibly be that cold without good reason. He wondered if Leon would mention anything when he finally hauled his ass out of bed or whether he'd go down the route of pretending that nothing happened. Chris had a feeling that he hadn't yet broken through his partner's strong defences and that it was going to be the latter. He would've liked to have found out more about his partner's troubled past but it probably unlikely that Leon would let his guard down twice. There was a good chance that he would be hungover too and that would probably mean he'd been in a foul mood.

Chris took his sweet time showering and getting dressed. The cool water of the power shower broke through some of the fuzz in his brain and made him feel slightly more alive. He glanced at himself in the mirror and he didn't look too bad, just a little dark under the eyes. He hadn't bothered shaving since his arrival in Spain and, as a result, he'd grown some pretty impressive stubble. He ran a cursory hand over his chin and decided that he actually quite liked the look. He pulled on a pair of his new jeans and another fresh-from-the-packet t-shirt and wandered down to the kitchen. He was in the mood for a nice big fried breakfast. It would be just what he needed to clear his hangover but he had a feeling that Leon didn't keep that sort of stuff in the house.

Leon himself was already awake and sitting at the pine kitchen table. An array of breakfast things were laid out on it. There was a fresh pot of coffee, a rack of toast and an array of spreads. Chris wondered if he was supposed to just help himself. It didn't seem likely that Leon would eat the whole rack. He took a seat opposite his partner, grabbed a slice of toast and some strawberry spread and set about smearing it on thickly. There was another glass of water at his place with a box of painkillers beside it.

"I thought you might be needing those" Leon said, nodding at the painkillers. "You're free to do whatever you want today. I'm going to the office to debrief with Dennis" He explained, sipping from his cup of coffee. Chris noticed that Leon didn't look his usual groomed self. His hair was a little rumpled and he looked sweaty and pale. Too sweaty and pale for it to be the result of just a hangover.

"Maybe you should go to the hospital today" Chris suggested. "Get that wound checked out" He nodded at Leon's side and took a big bite out of his toast.

"Not necessary" Leon replied. His tone seemed to have snapped back to its usual mild irritation. "I've already completed the required paperwork regarding yesterday's incident in the cave" He continued, changing the subject. He turned his attentions to a file folder. Without another word, he opened it and started to flip through, obviously checking that everything was in order. His floppy blonde hair fell in front of his eyes and his shoulders were tense and hunched. He gave off the distinct vibe of being truly fed up. It reminded Chris of the way that he'd looked when he'd been talking about Sherry. Without thinking, Chris dropped his toast on his plate and reached over to touch Leon's shoulder. The younger man reacted as if Chris' hand was boiling hot and it had burnt him. He shrugged it off quickly, standing up and gathering his papers together.

"Don't you ever try to touch me again Redfield" He spat as he grabbed his jacket from a hook on the kitchen wall and slammed out of the house. Chris leant back in his chair and stared down at his half eaten toast. All of a sudden he wasn't very hungry.

0000000

"I can't say that your findings are a total surprise" Dennis said as he scanned the folder on his desk. "Although the problem with the bullets is certainly something we weren't prepared for..."

Leon was leant against the water cooler barely listening. Dennis had offered him a seat but he'd declined. Hunching in a chair hurt his side too much. So he'd stood whilst Dennis read through his report, occasionally making a comment. Leon had given minimal replies. He was too busy thinking about the events of the previous night. He'd never recounted the story of him time in Raccoon so easily or so willingly before. He barely knew Chris and he'd spilled his guts just like that. It worried him and he couldn't work out why Chris Redfield was any different from any other person he'd ever met who'd wanted to know about his past. The thought had kept him awake most of the night and the only conclusion he'd been able to come to was that he'd been a little bit drunk. It seemed a pretty unsatisfactory conclusion though.

"Did you manage to get any samples of the creature that attacked you"? Dennis asked. Leon looked at him, trying to process the question and make it seem like Dennis had his full attention.

"No" Leon replied. "There wasn't time. We weren't equipped to deal with it and needed to get out as soon as we could" He skipped over the injury. That was something that was strictly on a need to know basis and Dennis didn't need to know. "If we're going to fully explore that facility and get everything we need that I'm going to need better equipment"

"Of course" Dennis nodded. "And I would very much like to give it to you" He closed the folder and placed it to one side. "But unfortunately it's not up to me and my hands are tied. My higher-ups, being the short-sighted people that they are, have convinced themselves that they have sunk enough money into this mission. Don't forget they'll be paying a considerable sum to the BSAA. As far as they are concerned, they've hired two of the best in the business and they should've seen some results by now" Leon made a face but Dennis continued. "If it was solely up to me then of course, I would give you everything you need but unfortunately it's completely out of my hands. I'm just the messenger. I know that it's frustrating and I know that you don't get along with your partner but you're going to have to deal with it. They're putting the pressure on me and don't understand why I'm not putting it on you"

"I understand" Leon said with a heavy sigh. His whole body ached and his side was really beginning to hurt. "I'm grateful that you're not. You've done a lot for me since I arrived here"

"More than you care to remember I'm sure" Dennis replied, raising his eyebrow suggestively. Leon shook his head and allowed himself a brief smile. Dennis was one of the first people he'd met when he'd come to Spain. It felt like years ago now. He'd barely been in the country a week when Dennis had insisted on showing him what the Spanish night life had to offer. Dennis liked to maintain a straight-laced, professional attitude at work but outside of work he'd been a good drinking partner. The two of them had gotten completely drunk that night and had somehow ended up back at Dennis' modest villa and indulging in a little bit of what Dennis liked to call 'overtime'. It was something that they'd often talked about and had agreed was a one off occasion. Neither of them had felt a need to turn it into anything more, casual or otherwise and at the time, Leon had been grateful for the opportunity to relax and truly be himself for the first time. They'd remained good friends and Dennis had since settled down with a lovely Spanish woman called Maria that he'd met at some restaurant.

"How about some armour piercing bullets"? Leon asked.

"I'll see what I can do" Dennis replied. "I'm sure that I can convince them to stretch to that" He regarded Leon for a moment. "You should go home and get some rest"

"Thanks Dennis" Leon nodded at the older man and turned to leave. As he put his hand on the door knob, Dennis spoke once more.

"Oh and Leon? When you come back for our next meeting, I'd like you to tell me that you went to the hospital to have your injury examined"

Leon smirked, wondering how the hell Dennis knew. But then, he supposed, Dennis wasn't in the Secret Service for nothing.

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Chris checked the oven for what felt like the tenth time. Judging by this reaction that morning, Leon was utterly fuming about last night's events. Chris wasn't the greatest cook in the world. In fact, he totally sucked as a cook but he did have one secret weapon. His home made chocolate chip cookies. Claire had taught him to make them years ago and they'd always been successful in cheering Jill up out of one of her moods. Chris hoped that he'd have similar success with Leon. The only flaw in this plan was that he hadn't made the cookies for quite a while and he wasn't sure whether he'd gone the temperature of the oven right. He put the cookies on a tray, turned up the oven and hoped for the best. At least the mixture had looked correct when he'd divided it onto the tray in sticky dollops.

"What on earth are you doing"? An angry voice demanded. Leon was standing by the doorway. He yanked his leather jacket off and hung it up. He threw a little white paper bag onto the pine table.

"Oh...just making a little something" Chris shrugged casually as Leon stalked to the fridge and pulled it open. He took out a carton of orange juice and poured himself a glass. He drained half of it before taking a seat at the table and ripping open the white paper bag.

"Just burning a little something more like" Leon snorted, pulling a package of strong painkillers out of the bag.

"Shit"! Chris exclaimed. "I just checked them a minute ago"! He wrenched the oven door open and, sure enough, a burning smell invaded his nostrils. He pulled the baking tray out and his cookies looked like dark brown lumps tinged with black. "Shit"! He repeated. What was with this oven? One minute something looked fine and the next it was totally ruined. He waited for some sort of sarcastic comment but when he looked at Leon he was surprised to see his partner actually smiling.

"You tried to make cookies"? He said with a hint of amusement. He popped a couple of tablets out of their foil container and swallowed them with a mouthful of juice.

"I was trying to make it up to you since you seemed so pissed this morning" Chris replied pathetically, poking at the remains of his cookies.

"Maybe in future you should stay away from the oven" Leon suggested as he watched Chris dejectedly dump his cookies in the kitchen bin and shove the tray into the sink. He opened the window to let out the burning smell and sighed. The older man looked so forlorn that Leon actually found himself feeling a bit sorry for him. He wasn't used to people wanting to do nice things for him. He decided to make good on his promise to be civil and reach out to him. "If you want to help me you could have a look at my wound" He said quietly. "It's really starting to hurt" He nodded at the box of painkillers, the strongest the pharmacy stocked.

"Sure, no problem" Chris shrugged. "Hop on the sofa and I'll see what I can do" Leon nodded and headed into the lounge area. He laid down on the sofa on his uninjured side and lifted his t-shirt up. Chris fetched the first aid kit from the cupboard and knelt down beside his partner. Remembering what Rebecca told him about basic wound care, he removed the bandages and gauze pad that Leon had used as carefully as he could. All the while, he looked for traces of pain in Leon's face. The younger man didn't say anything and kept his eyes focussed on a distant spot on the wall. He was obviously uncomfortable. Chris unpicked the last of the surgical tape and revealed the wound. The gash was as nasty as Chris imagined, deep enough to require stitches. It was very swollen and angry looking and Chris didn't even need to touch it to know that it was radiating heat.

"You're really gonna have to go to the hospital" He said. He'd had similar wounds in the past himself and knew how horribly painful they were. It annoyed him to think that Leon had obviously been suffering in silence.

"No" Leon said firmly.

"It's infected" Chris argued, examining the wound closely. "There's pus coming from the wound"

"Then you're going to have to clean it" Leon replied. "Do you know how"?

"Yeah but it's gonna hurt. And I want it on record that I don't agree with this" Chris said unhappily. Leon nodded.

"Duly noted"

"Right" Chris sighed. "I'll be back in a second" He hurried to the kitchen, silently cursing his partner's stubborn refusal to go to hospital. He quickly prepared a bowl of warm water and set about dissolving a generous amount of salt in it. He winced at the thought of how much it was going to hurt. He carefully carried the bowl back into the lounge area and placed it on the coffee table. He rummaged in the first aid box until he found a pair of latex gloves and a clean pack of gauze. He tore open the packet and pulled on the gloves. He grabbed the first piece of gauze and dipped it into the water. "You ready"? He asked. Leon nodded and fixed on the wall spot again. Chris dragged the damp gauze over the wound as quickly as possible. When he'd wiped away the dried blood and pus from Leon's skin, he set about dealing with the gash itself. Taking a fresh piece of gauze, he used one hand to squeeze the edges of the wound together as hard as he dared, and the other hand to wipe away the pus that oozed out of it. Leon didn't make a sound but Chris knew that it was hurting him a lot. He continued to squeeze and wipe, regularly replenishing his gauze, for fifteen minutes until eventually the flow of pus stopped. He dumped the last piece of gauze in the bowl. "I'm nearly done now" He said reassuringly. "I just need to put some antibacterial cream on it" Leon nodded. He was breathing heavily and his skin was red and clammy. Chris grabbed the cream from the first aid box and squeeze a liberal amount into his hand. Leon flinched when the cold cream came in contact with his body but said nothing as Chris carefully rubbed it in until a thin film covered the entire wound. He covered it with a large piece of gauze and removed his gloves before taping the gauze down and wrapping the whole thing up with fresh bandages. He stood up and set about cleaning up the bowl and first aid stuff, knowing that his partner would appreciate this attempt to respect the house rules. When he came back from replacing the first aid box in its correct cupboard, Leon still hadn't moved.

"How are you doing"? He asked.

"Peachy" Leon muttered, throwing his arm over his face and making no attempt to sit up.

"Well if you don't need anything else, I'll go for a shower" Chris replied. "I'll bring your painkillers in here with some water so you don't have to get up for a while"

Chris dutifully fetched the box of painkillers and a glass of water and put them on the coffee table, making sure that they were within easy reach. Leon hadn't moved his arm or said anything else so Chris took that as his cue to go for his shower. His foot was barely on the first step when he heard the quiet but definite comment.

"Thanks"

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Leon opened his eyes and was somewhat confused to see a white ceiling and a maroon light shade. He had a distinct memory of falling asleep on the sofa so, logically, he should be seeing a cream ceiling and an impressive brass and glass light shade in the shape of a large star. He didn't often suffer from lapses of memory so he found the situation a little odd to say the least. How the hell had he ended up in his bedroom? Surely those painkillers weren't that strong?

"Awesome, you're up"

Leon sat up slightly to see Chris easing his way through the bedroom doorway, having some trouble with a black tray that usually held Leon's tea set.

"What the-" Leon started to say as Chris slowly and carefully made his way over to him, the contents of the tray wobbling ominously.

"You seemed really out of it yesterday after I'd cleaned your wound. I figured it was because of the infection, so I helped bring you up to bed. You were burning up so I got you a cold flannel and you seemed to go to sleep after that. I figured you might wanna rest today" Chris explained. "I brought you a little something if you're up to it" He added, taking great pains to carefully lay the tray across Leon's lap. It was a rather haphazard concoction that seemed to be Chris' attempt at making him some breakfast. There was half a glass of orange juice which, judging by the liberal amount of pips still floating in it, had come from the oranges in the fruit bowl. Next to this was a stack of blackened toast and a strange bowl of yellowy froth that Leon could only assume was supposed to be scrambled eggs. Chris had laid out two of the strong painkillers on a piece of folded toilet paper which was obviously supposed to serve as a napkin. The centrepiece of this breakfast disaster was a dandelion from the garden which Chris had presented in one of the dirty milk bottles. "Dennis phoned. He says that he managed to get what you asked for and that he's pissed that you didn't go to the hospital" He grabbed a knife and fork from the back pocket of his jeans and handed them over. "I'm gonna go and collect the stuff today. He says if you dare to come to his office then he'll drive you to the hospital himself" He added smugly.

"I'm not going to a hospital" Leon replied sourly. "I'm not ill" He insisted, though his side was still aching and his whole body felt like it was on fire. Chris frowned at him and tried to put his hand on his burning forehead. "I asked you not to touch me" Leon snapped, batting the hand away albeit weakly.

"You're still burning up" Chris replied, crossing his arms across his chest. "You need to stay in bed. Eat your breakfast and then you can take your painkillers. I'm gonna shower then head to the office to meet Dennis"

"And who put you in charge"? Leon said snippily. He knew Chris had a point but it annoyed him. He felt terrible and knew that he was in no shape to make the trip to the office to pick up the bullets. Chris disappeared, presumably to take his shower, leaving Leon to poke at the unappetising food on the tray. He'd never had someone make him breakfast in bed before and despite the fact that the food was virtually inedible, it was quite nice to think that Chris had put in the effort just for him. It was strange to have someone taking care of him but if he was honest, it felt good. He'd always been the caretaker, looking after his elderly grandmother during his youth, looking after Sherry and then finally, looking after himself for the simple fact that nobody else would. He looked down at the breakfast tray and wondered what to do. He didn't want to eat anything on the tray but, at the same time, he didn't want to leave it untouched. He heard the shower start up from further down the hall. He considered hurrying down to the kitchen to dispose of the food but he was in no shape to get downstairs and then get back upstairs in time. He could try and slide the tray under his bed but that would probably be a bit too obvious. He looked around desperately until another idea struck him. Without a second though to the terrible mess, he opened the drawer of his bedside table and carefully tipped the contents of the various plates into it. As much as it bothered him to make such a mess, it would bother him more to hurt Chris' feelings. To make the tray look more convincing, he left half a slice of toast and a couple of forkfuls of the scrambled eggs on their plates. He put the tray to one side and hunkered back down between the sheets. He never thought he'd see the day that he gave a damn about Chris Redfield's feelings.

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Chris knocked on the office door. He hadn't been able to remember his way through the seemingly endless network of corridors but a very sexy young receptionist had been more than happy to show him the way. She only spoke Spanish so there was a bit of a language barrier but Chris had tried out some of the words he'd picked up from Leon. She'd been perfectly friendly until he'd done that. She'd pointed to Dennis' office with a frown and when he'd smiled and tried to say thank you, she'd responded with a very rude gesture. It looked like he needed to work on his Spanish. He knocked on the door again. He remembered how Leon had told him off for just barging in last time. He didn't expect to be kept hanging around waiting for Dennis to answer though. The few people that were milling around in expensive business suits were beginning to look at him like he was some sort of idiot. He gave one final knock before trying to door handle. It turned easily. Deciding that he'd had enough of standing around and being stared at, Chris let himself into the office. He soon discovered why he hadn't received an answer. Dennis' office was empty.

He hadn't really taken his surroundings in the last time he'd been here. It was pretty standard sort of office, not something he'd expect for someone quite high up in the government. He imagined it to be a lot swankier but it was actually quite boring. There was a small water cooler in one corner with a pot plant beside it. Dennis' desk was in the middle of the room with a black executive leather chair behind it and a less impressive looking wooden chair in front. There were a couple of grey filing against up against the back wall and above them was a map of Spain. Well, at least it look like Spain, Chris wasn't particularly hot on geography. Like Leon's house, it didn't seem to have any personal effects lying around. It was a pretty boring office. He decided to sit down and wait for Dennis to turn up. As he took a seat in the wooden chair, he noticed a few file folders stacked on the desk. He recognised one clearly as the mission brief folder Leon had had back at the house. The other folder than attracted his attention was the slim grey one that had his name written across the top of it. Unable to resist the urge to leave it where he was, Chris reached over and picked it up. It figured that the government would have some information on him but it would be interesting to find out exactly how much they had. He sat back in the chair and flipped through the pages. The first one listed his personal information such as full name, date of birth, last known address all the standard stuff which wasn't interesting. There was a basic resume of his working life that dated all the way back to his days in the Air Force. That explained how Leon knew about his military training. He smirked as he read the brief passage about his achievements. It ended with the sentence 'was summarily dismissed from the United States Air Force on the grounds of insubordination'. Whoever had complied the file certainly knew their stuff. Even Claire and Jill didn't know about the whole getting kicked out of the Air Force thing. All he'd ever said about it was that he'd left of his own free will and wanted a career change. The file went on to mention his time at the RPD and his subsequent transfer to S.T.A.R.S. It went into more detail as it covered the mansion incident and his anti-Umbrella activity that followed. It mentioned his trip to Russia with Jill and then it went on to chronicle his years with the BSAA leading right up until the present day. It was interesting to note that at the bottom of the report on his deployment to Spain it said 'No problems working with others. Will have no problems with our agent'. Chris snorted. He didn't have any problems working with others if the others he worked with weren't total assholes. The last page of his folder had a list of the BSAA's most recent funding applications. The last ones on the list were the US Government and pharmaceutical company Tricell. Chris frowned at that part. It had been largely Barry and Jill's idea to apply for funding from Tricell but he hadn't been convinced. It seemed that after all their past troubles with a certain large pharmaceutical company, applying for funding from another one was, quite frankly, dumb.

Chris tossed his file aside. It was extremely boring. He didn't really need to read all about himself because, obviously, he was himself. He had a quick look at the other files on the stack and raised his eyebrows when he saw another file, the same colour as his own but with 'Leon Kennedy' written across the top tab. Chris quickly looked around to make sure no Secret Service guys were lurking, behind the plant perhaps, and plucked the folder from the pile. He felt a twinge of guilt as he held the folder in his slightly sweaty hands but to hell with it. He'd tried his damnedest to get to know his partner better only to be cruelly knocked back so he thought he might as well go for it. Who knows? He could find something out that he bring him closer to the younger man, the Raccoon City thing had got him nowhere. He quickly skimmed though Leon's basic information page, learning when his birthday was, the fact that he was three years younger than him and that his middle name was Scott. Another page detailed his time at the police training academy. Unsurprisingly, he'd scored high on all of his assessments, sometimes coming out top of his class. He'd graduated in the top percentile with honours and there was a list of test scores attached. On the next page was a scanned copy of the letter confirming his transfer from the NYPD to the RPD and a detailed job description of his new role in what was called the SPD. Next followed a very long summary of the Raccoon City incident, including a transcript of an interview with a government agent and a medical report that indicated that he'd been shot during the outbreak. Intrigued by this, Chris continued to read on to discover that, as Leon already said, he'd been granted temporary guardianship of Sherry Birkin. It had been quickly revoked when he was assigned to attend a training camp for the government. There was also a detailed report outlined concerns for Leon's mental health after his experiences in Raccoon. Chris felt another stab of guilt as he read on, realising that Leon probably wouldn't want him to know that there'd been concerns about him suffering from PTSD as well as being observed to have 'self-destructive tendencies' in particular drinking and promiscuous behaviour. Chris quickly flicked forward a couple more pages. There were details of his training for the government and a report saying that he'd done well in O.R.E or 'Operational Readiness Exercises'. Chris found it weird that a lot of the reports he'd read had mentioned that Leon worked very well with others and was seen as a good communicator. He'd had a succession of partners during basic training missions. A name that kept cropping up repeatedly was 'Jack Krauser'. It looked like they'd trained together at one of the training facilities and had been recognised by their superiors as an efficient and high-ranking team that worked well together. There was a sheath of mission debriefs that carried both Leon and this Krauser guy's signature. It seemed like they'd worked together on a lot of missions. Chris' frowned deepened. Now he felt more confused. He knew that Leon didn't like to talk about his past but he would've thought that during their drunken night he would've heard something about this Krauser guy since the two had obviously been good friends. Flicking through some more of the mission reports he came across something that provided an explanation. There was a sheet of paper with the title 'Operation Javier'. It mentioned something to do with the Veronica virus which he'd seen himself during his time in Antarctica. Both Leon and Krauser were listed as being participants in the mission but strangely, the debrief only carried Leon's signature. As he turned the page, Chris came across a report that made for very interesting reading. It was a formal complaint against Krauser made by Leon. It listed Krauser's treatment of Leon in regards to Leon's sexuality. The file almost dropped from Chris' hands in surprise. Leon was gay? Mr James Bond Secret Service lady killer? The report stated that upon returning to the base camp following the mission in Brazil, relations were heavily strained between Leon and Krauser with the latter completely distancing himself from Leon and refusing to work with him. There was an interview with Krauser in which he explained that Leon had come out to him during the course of the mission and it had strained things between them. Krauser had been injured seriously enough during the mission to prevent him from working in the special forces and Krauser blamed it on Leon. Leon's interview said that he'd trusted Krauser implicitly and hadn't expected such a deeply homophobic reaction. In Leon's own words, Krauser had proceeded to make his life a misery. It seemed that Jack Krauser was held in such high esteem by the other recruits at the base that they'd instantly sided with him and Leon was left a virtual outcast, subjected to cruel and brutal treatment at the hands of his peers. Leon's interview ended with the interviewer asking what could be done to better accommodate him within the Government's ranks. He was a valued agent and they didn't want to lose him. Leon asked to be moved from the base completely and given another post. He didn't care where it was, even if it was out of the country. He was willing to take any job offer they had. It was here that he'd been offered the post in Spain. The interview and job offer attached had been signed by Leon, the interviewer and a present third party witness.

Chris snapped the file shut and hurriedly put it back on Dennis' desk. He had that horrible, slightly sick feeling you get when you discover something that you know you shouldn't know. He swallowed hard and stood up. No wonder Leon hadn't wanted to tell him anything about himself or his past. No wonder he didn't even want him as a partner. It was obvious that he'd put a lot of trust in this Krauser guy and had cared for him enough to tell him something that was a very big secret. He imagined that it had taken a lot of courage for him to admit who he really was and it had all backfired in his face in the worst way possible. It all fell into place. Leon's business like demeanour, his acidic comments and his unwelcoming attitude. It was all carefully designed to keep him at arm's length and reduce the risk of the same happening again. Chris shook his head. He decided that he would go back to the house and would tell Leon that everything was alright. Chris had no problem whatsoever with gay people and as far as he was concerned, who Leon banged was none of his business anyway. He knew that Leon wouldn't be over the moon at the idea that his personnel file had been read but Chris figured and hoped that the relief that he could finally drop the act and be himself would outweigh that.

"Ah Mr Redfield" A sudden smooth voice made Chris jump. He whipped round to see Dennis standing in the doorway, holding a black messenger bag. Chris had been so involved in what he'd been reading and then processing it all that he'd forgotten that the reason he was even in Dennis' office was to collect something. Dennis smiled at him and proffered the bag. "The bullets Leon asked for" He explained. Chris took the bag and slung it over one shoulder. "I trust you're finding Leon alright to work with"?

"Yeah" Chris nodded. "It'll probably be even better now-" He was about to explain why but then figured it wouldn't be a good idea to admit to Dennis that he'd been flipping through private files. He wondered if the files had been put in a specific order and whether Dennis would notice that they'd been disturbed. "So..um..." He said awkwardly. "Is this all I came for"?

"Indeed it is" Dennis replied, taking a seat behind his desk. "Although, if wouldn't mind giving me an update on Leon's condition, I'd be very grateful"

"Oh his wound"! Chris suddenly realised. "Yeah. I tried to get him to go to hospital but he wouldn't. His wound got infected but I cleaned it up"

"Excellent" Dennis smiled at him warmly. "I have a sneaking suspicion that Leon won't be acting very grateful but I would like to extend my thanks"

Chris nodded. The thought of Leon's ungrateful attitude would usually royally piss him off but now he understood why, he didn't mind so much.

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"Great, you're up"! Chris grinned at his partner as he breezed through the front door. Leon was sitting on the sofa, flicking through a newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. It was the first time since they'd drunk the whiskey together that Leon actually looked relaxed. There was a bit more colour in his cheeks and it appeared that the lazy morning in bed had been just what he needed. Chris smiled as he dumped the black messenger back by the front door. A relaxed Leon was a sight that he could very easily get used to. His smile widened. He was about to make it more of a permanent state.

"So did you get the bullets"? Leon asked, looking up from his newspaper. Chris nodded and flopped down into the armchair, grinning from ear to ear. The older man's freakishly good mood instantly made Leon suspicious. "Why do you look so pleased with yourself"? He asked tentatively.

"You can relax now"! Chris announced triumphantly. On the way home, he'd been practising how he was going to tell him partner the good news and he thought he had it just about right.

"How so"?

"Well, there's no need for you to be all snarky and uptight anymore because I know"!

"You know what"? Leon asked, utterly confused. He didn't see how what his partner was saying had anything to do with Dennis or the armour piercing bullets he'd asked for.

"I know you're gay" Chris answered with a shrug. Whilst practising, he'd decided that the most straight forward way would be the best. "I know you're gay and that that Krauser guy got all freaked out by it and started being a total dick and that's why you act the way you do. I just wanted to tell you that you don't have to be like that with me 'cos I'm fine about it. Like I said before, I've got nothing against gay guys so yeah"

"Explain" Leon said darkly. Chris glanced over at his partner to see that the relaxed demeanour had completely disappeared. Leon threw the newspaper down and leant forwards with an expression on his face that could only be described as carefully controlled rage. Even Chris, who wasn't that great at reading people, could see that he was digging his own grave and rapidly.

"Um...well...y'see...I didn't really mean to" Chris scratched the back of his neck. "There was this folder on Dennis' desk...and he wasn't there...so yeah...y'know how it is. Hanging around..needing something to read"

"So you decided to read my personal file"? Leon was speaking calmly enough but Chris could clearly see a nerve in his temple flickering steadily. He could've kicked himself. Why on earth did he think that Leon would react positively to the news that he'd read his file? He nodded at Leon slowly. The younger man's mouth became a tight, grim line. Chris braced himself for a full on verbal assault. He was surprised when, completely wordlessly, Leon got to his feet and stalked out of the room.

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Chris stared moodily out of the Jeep's passenger side window as the increasingly familiar countryside whizzed by. Leon had taken another day to recover and then, armed with the armour piercing bullets, they'd decided to make another attempt at breaching the facility. Their plans regarding the facility had changed. Leon had spent most of the previous evening on a phone conference with Dennis who'd agreed that they needed to take action. If the facility was breeding monsters like the one that attacked Leon, it needed to be destroyed as soon as possible. Their new mission brief was to destroy the facility from within. A clean up crew were being put on standby for when they were done. Chris didn't get any of this new information verbally. He'd been sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of soup, when Leon had flung a lengthy print out in his direction. After Chris had told him about reading Leon's personnel file, relations between them had hit an all time low. After he'd walked out of the lounge that night, Chris had barely seen him and they certainly hadn't shared any conversations. The only communication that he'd received from the younger man was that they'd be setting off for the facility that morning. Chris had tried his best to initiate a conversation over breakfast but every attempt had been rebuffed. He'd never expected Leon to take the news as badly as he did. Sure, he'd expected him to be pissed about the file but he'd expected the relief to outweigh that. If Leon had spent so long segregating himself from people just because he was worried about how they'd react when they discovered he was gay then surely it would be a relief to learn that he was being accepted with no trouble at all. Chris' head swam as he tried to make sense of it all. He supposed he didn't know his partner as much as he thought he did. Soon they'd be finished with the mission and he'd never have to deal with Leon and his moods again. Normally that would be the sort of thought that would cheer him up but, for some reason, the thought of never seeing Leon again made him unhappy. He sighed heavily. So much for the simple mission he'd been expecting.

The drive to the cave felt like it went on forever. Leon remained wordless as they parked the Jeep and readied their weapons. Their magnums were loaded with the armour piercing bullets. The ladder leading to the facility had been partially destroyed by the grenade so they were forced to rappel down the hole. As he dropped down, Chris couldn't help but feel like they were being watched. The walls of the hole were charred from the flames. As they reached the bottom, there was no sign of the tentacle creature which they'd killed or at least injured last time. Leon instantly headed to the left and this time, Chris didn't challenge him. As they moved down the corridor, the damage from the blast radius of the grenade became less and less apparent. Chris walked onwards until he couldn't stand the crushing silence any longer. He wasn't sure if it was because of the uncertainty of where they were going or whether he just needed to hear Leon's voice but he just couldn't take it any more.

"About the file thing...don't you think we should maybe talk about it or something"? He spoke awkwardly to Leon's black clad back as they reached the end of the corridor and found a door.

"It doesn't require our immediate attention" Leon answered coldly. "What does however, is this door. I need you to cover me. Do you think you can manage that"?

Chris nodded and sighed as Leon braced himself. The door was locked which meant that it would require a little brute force. Chris knew that it wasn't the best idea for Leon to be busting doors down with his injury. He'd offered to clean it again and Leon had refused. Instead, Chris had to sit and watch as Leon cleaned the wound himself and applied some steri-strips to keep it closed. If Chris offered to bust down the door himself, Leon was liable to smack him. He watched as Leon opened the door with one swift kick, wincing as he imagined the pressure the movement would be putting on the dressing.

They entered a basic storage room. There were a few oil drums stacked up in one corner and large wooden crates lined up against the opposite wall. There was nothing stamped on the crates to indicate where they'd come from or what they contained. Leon did a quick sweep of the room, making an irritated noise when he found nothing. There wasn't even another door that they could try.

"Looks like we're back to that door we went to when we first came here" Chris said. He was desperate to add something about him being right all along but he sensed that it probably wasn't the right time or indeed the best thing to do.

"There could be more of those creatures in there" Leon replied, looking thoughtful. "There has to be another way into that room that doesn't leave us so exposed and open to an attack"

"Well how about the air vents"? Chris suggested. He nodded to a grate on the ceiling in the right hand corner of the room. "They've got to lead somewhere and I bet we'll be pretty safe in there"

"Hmm" Leon looked at the grate, he titled his head to one side, considering. "As much as I hate to admit this but you might actually be on to something" The covering was right above one of the oil drums. He grabbed hold of it and shook it, testing it for strength. He climbed on top of it and started to pull at the grating. His left side screamed at him to stop but he ignored the insistent throbbing. After a lot of jiggling and pulling, the cover came away in his hands. He discarded it carefully, not wanting to alert anyone to their presence.

Chris watched Leon haul himself up into the vent. He hurried over to the opening and followed suit, pulling himself into the dirty and cramped space. Leon's backside was merely inches away from his face but he resisted the strong urge to make any kind of comment. Instead, he remained quiet as they started to crawl, heading back in the direction that they'd come from. If Chris' hunch was right, they'd hopefully reach the room where the creature had attacked them.

"When I joined the BSAA, I didn't imagine I'd be crawling through dirty old air vents" He said, snorting loudly as he inhaled another generous amount of dust.

"Quiet" Leon snapped. Even his ass looked uppity. "There's an exit ahead"

Chris looked around Leon's snobby ass and saw light flooding the vent from the gaps of another grate just ahead of them. Leon carefully crawled over the grate and rather awkwardly twisted around in the vent so they were now facing each other, the grate between them.

"You're...flexible" Chris noted, trying not to look impressed. "So what's the plan then? We pop that puppy open and dive down on them all guns blazing"? He asked hopefully. All this sneaking around wasn't really his thing. He much preferred action and shooting.

"Oh of course" Leon hissed. It was amazing how he could keep his voice quiet yet sound so sarcastic and snappy at the same time. "There's probably even a girl down there who needs rescuing and she'll be oh-so-grateful that you saved her from the scary monsters. Hell, she'll be so damn grateful you'll probably make hot love on whatever we killed"

"Now that's what I'm talking about"! Chris replied excitedly. He grinned at his partner goofily, pleased that Leon was finally talking to him and actually making jokes. Leon shook his head disgustedly and leant forward to look through the grate. From what little he could see, it appeared he was looking at a lab, similar to the labs back in Raccoon City. The floor was made of white tiles and he could see a monitoring station with a row of flickering images. There was a takeaway coffee cup on the desk of the monitoring station which indicated that it had been used recently. "So when are we actually gonna do anything"? Chris nagged. "It's too hot in this damn vent and I'm sweating like mad" He wiped his wet forehead with the back of his hand then wiped his hand across his t-shirt. Leon looked disgusted.

"Well I can't hear anyone down there" He answered, listening hard. "Get ready to cover me just in case" He ordered before he started to lift the cover off. There was a brief hairy moment when he dropped the grate but he managed to catch it again just as quickly. He pulled the grate up through the hole and rested it against the side of the vent.

The next thing Chris knew, Leon had dropped through the hole.

He had to marvel at the way Leon managed to execute a perfectly agile landing. It was quite a long drop to the tiled floor. Chris followed through he hole and landed in a heap on the floor, almost winding himself in the process. Well, grace had never been one of his strong points. He got to his feet as quickly as he could and dusted himself off to cover his embarrassment. He needn't have bothered. Leon wasn't even looking in his direction. He was too busy scouting the room.

Just as Leon had assumed from the vent, they were in a lab. There were cupboards along the wall with the biohazard symbol emblazoned on them. There was a huge water tank which took up most of the middle of the room and above them, a long gantry that offered a view of the depths of the tank. Leon wondered if that was where the tentacle creature lived. He could easily imagine Umbrella scientists standing on that gantry with clipboards in hand, eagerly scribbling down notes. The monitoring station was to his right and close to the cupboards was an immaculately clean operating table. The desk behind it contained various papers and test tubes full of different coloured liquids. Leon shuddered to think what was contained in those tubes. Everything around him was white and pristine, the total opposite of the corridor and the store room. He glanced over at his partner. Chris looked sick to his stomach. Leon wondered if the older man had seen something similar before. He almost felt a pang for him.

"So this is some sort of research facility" He said aloud, strolling over to the desk to examine the test tubes. He wondered if it would be worth taking some back to the office for Dennis' lab boys to examine. Chris, strangely silent, nodded and chose to check out the huge water tank. The water inside looked green and murky. Leon watched as Chris tapped the glass but nothing seemed to stir from the depths.

Suddenly, Leon heard a click from behind him. It sounded awfully close. Too close to be anything good. He turned around and a large fist collided with his face, instantly splitting his lip. As he reeled from the blow, a thick, muscular arm wrapped around his neck and pulled him close. He let out a strangled cry of surprise.

Chris, who had heard the punch, wheeled around quickly. He felt bile rise in his throat at the sight of a large, burly man gripping Leon tightly. The man was holding the serrated blade of a large combat knife to his partner's throat. Leon's grey eyes were wide with shock.

"Drop the gun" The man ordered. He tightened his grip and pressed the blade into Leon's throat. A thin line of red appeared on his pale flesh. The man's cruel looking face twisted into an ugly sneer. A thick scar ran down from his forehead, over his eye and ending at his cheek. His eyes were cold and full of hate and reminded Chris of Wesker. The man even had similar hair, blonde and slicked back but whereas Wesker was lithe and athletic, this guy looked like he bench pressed elephants in his spare time.

"Who the fuck are you"? Chris demanded. He'd dropped down into the lab with his gun drawn. It hung limply in his right hand. He didn't want to risk aiming it.

"Tell him Kennedy" The man said, his eyes never leaving Chris'. He gave Leon's neck another hard squeeze.

"Krauser" Leon choked out. Krauser smirked smugly. Small beads of blood were gathering along the faint line he'd cut into Leon's neck. Chris glared at the man. So this was Jack Krauser. This was the man who'd made Leon's life hell.

"They told you I died in a helicopter crash didn't they"? Krauser whispered teasingly into Leon's ear.

"They didn't tell me anything" Leon's voice was strained. "I didn't ask. After I left that camp I never wanted to even hear your name again"

"Ha" Krauser exclaimed, but didn't sound amused. "I told you to drop that weapon" He turned his attentions to Chris, nodding to his right hand. "Oh and anything else you might be carrying. I saw you come in here from the entrance so don't think I don't know what you're both packing"

Reluctantly, Chris dropped the magnum on the floor. He followed it with the shotgun he'd slung across his back and the grenades hanging from his belt. Finally, he pulled the combat knife out from its hidden sheath. The whole time, his eyes never left Leon's. Whether Leon was trying to silently communicate with him, Chris didn't know but there was no way he was going to put the younger man's life at risk. He hadn't ever lost a partner and he wasn't about to start now.

"Now it's your turn Kennedy" Krauser crooned in Leon's ear. "Drop what you're holding. Any of those fancy little moves of yours and I'll slit your throat"

Chris watched helplessly as Leon dropped his own weapons. When he was done, Krauser kicked them aside and, keeping a tight hold on him, walked Leon forward. When he'd almost reached Chris, he let Leon go, shoving him hard into the older man. As fast as lightning, Krauser withdrew his own magnum and pointed it at the pair as he collected their weapons in a neat pile.

"Now move" He ordered, nodding towards a heavy metal door in the corner of the lab. When they reached it, Krauser pressed a button near the door frame and the door slid open, revealing a pitch black room. "You first" He said, nodding to Chris. With great trepidation and, wishing he had something to hit the fucker with, Chris walked into the room. In the light from the lab, he saw Krauser lift his leg and plant his boot firmly in the small of Leon's back before kicking him into the room. Leon went sprawling, almost knocking Chris off his feet. He saw Krauser hit the button once more and the door slid closed, plunging them into darkness. Chris felt a very sharp elbow dig him hard in the ribs.

"You fucking idiot! You should've just shot him"! Leon spat. He couldn't see his partner's face in the darkness but he could easily imagine that it looked distinctly unimpressed.

"Oh I'm sorry" Chris replied sarcastically. The room seemed to be very small because he was certain Leon was standing so close to him by choice. "Shoot him! Why didn't I think of that? I mean, fuck it if that psycho bastard stabbed you"! He tried to step away from his partner and came into contact with a cold metal wall. "I understand if you wanna see him dead-"

"Of course you understand"! Leon replied acidly. "You read my fucking file! You know all about him and what he fucking did"! There was a metallic clang as Leon either kicked or punched one of the walls. "Fuck! Why don't you listen to me? Why don't you ever listen to me? I don't need a friend or a partner. I don't need you! Why did you have to read that file? Why couldn't you have just left it where it was? Why couldn't you've just waited patiently? Sat still and not touched anything? Why do you have to touch everything that isn't yours? Everything is Chris Fucking Redfield's property! You take what you want without giving a shit for the consequences"

Chris picked at a loose thread on his t-shirt feeling incredibly stupid. He should've known all along that Leon wouldn't take kindly to his file being read. He'd never heard his partner be so angry before. He used to sarcastic, he was used to acidic. It was a little unnerving to have Leon lose control like this.

"I'm sorry" Chris muttered into the darkness.

"Just leave me alone" Leon replied. "I need to find a way out of here" He was silently cursing himself for not equipping himself with his usual hip light. He figured it wouldn't be needed. He walked around the tiny room, feeling along the walls with his hands outstretched. From touch alone, he worked out that the room was probably no more than six or seven feet squared. The walls felt like they were made from the same metal as the ones in the first corridor and the floor seemed to be solid concrete. There appeared to be nothing else in the room apart from the two of them. Leon imagined that the purpose of the room was some sort of holding cell designed to make its prisoner go mad. Without light or sound or anywhere to rest, Leon knew that it would very effective. It would be even more effective if the unfortunate person was thrown in with Chris Redfield.

Chris could hear his partner slowly moving around the edge of the room, muttering inaudible things to himself. Chris felt like he was going crazy. He slumped to the floor and leant against the wall. The uncomfortable silence was back and it was obvious that Leon had no intention of apologising for his tirade. Chris had no idea what to say to make things better again. Maybe there was nothing he could say. Maybe this would be the extent of their relationship until the mission was over. He'd been arguing with Jill once and she'd accused him of being emotionally retarded. She told him that by the time he worked out what people wanted from him, it was too late. He wondered if Leon really didn't want anything from him. It certainly seemed that way. Reading the younger man's file had been an education to say the least. Leon was still fairly young to have gone through so much and Chris imagined the return of Krauser wasn't going to help anything. He sighed deeply and stretched out on the floor, resting on his elbow. Leon hadn't yet found a way out so it looked like they were stuck until Krauser decided to return. Without warning, he felt the toe of a steel capped boot dig into his thigh and a warm body collapse over him coupled with the dull clang of a body making contact with the metal wall.

"You fucking dick" Leon moaned. "Why the hell would you lay down in a dark room"? He asked as Chris felt him roll away.

"Well most people lay down in darkened rooms to go to sleep" Chris answered, mimicking Leon's snotty tone.

"You're really annoying, you know that"? Leon spat.

"You may have told me that before, yes" Chris replied. "Are you alright? It sounded like you hit the wall..."

"Nothing my arm won't recover from" Leon answered. "Look" He sighed, resigned. "I can't find a way out of here"

Chris got to his feet and dusted his clothes on. He hoped that nothing infected had been dumped in this room before them. Then again, he hadn't picked anything up from his years of chasing Umbrella so he supposed he was pretty resistant.

"Is there another air vent cover"? He asked.

"Maybe" Leon replied. "The walls are high and I can't reach the corners" Leon suddenly felt his shoulder connected with Chris' hard chest. "What the hell are you doing you oaf"? He demanded as, without warning, Chris attempted to climb up his back.

"Getting a boost" Chris explained as if it was the simplest concept in the world to grasp and Leon was being particularly stupid. "Let's see if we can find anything now"

"Jesus" Leon moaned as he walked forward with great difficultly. "How much do you fucking weigh? A hundred kilos"?

"Ninety-eight actually" Chris replied with a goofy grin, even though he knew that Leon couldn't see it. "Didn't want you to do yourself an injury trying to climb up my impressive physique. You might bust your steri-strips or something. Anyway, I thought you wouldn't mind my awesome crotch poking you in the back"

"Oh yeah. With me being gay I'd totally relish it" Leon said sardonically as he moved to the first corner.

"Did you just make a joke"? Chris asked, sounding genuinely surprised. He hadn't expected Leon to react positively to that comment but he figured a good tongue lashing was a lot better than their previous awkward silence.

"Just hurry up and find something" Leon said quickly. Chris' massive bulk and testing the very limits of his bench pressing abilities.

"Awesome! An air vent"! Chris exclaimed as his hands came into contact with something that felt very much like an air vent grate. Further investigation confirmed that it was another grate. He started to pull it and it came away easily in his hands. He reached up and felt into the air vent. "Feels smaller than the other one. I don't think I'm gonna be able to fit in it"

"Get down then"! Leon replied. His shoulders were screaming in pain. He felt the weight suddenly shift off them as Chris slowly climbed down from his back. "How about you give me a boost this time? I'm pretty sure that's less likely to re-open my wound than supporting your hulking form"

"Sure" Chris dropped the air vent cover and it fell to the floor with a loud clang. He waited for Leon to tell him off but his partner remained silent. "So, how do you want to do this? Ass to face or crotch to face? The choice is all yours partner"

"I'll tell you exactly how I want to do it you vacuous oaf. I'll shove my foot up your hairy ass and launch you into that metal door. Your thick skull is bound to break it down with no problems" Leon answered smugly.

"My, aren't we defensive"? Chris said with a chuckle. "Are you sure you'll be able to cope without me? After all, I can protect you with, what was it again? My hulking form"? He asked as Leon's hands dug into his shoulders. He grunted as he felt Leon's weight rest on his back.

"Go fucking die" Leon replied as he hauled himself upwards into the air vent. He didn't sound as vitriolic as usual. It had been more like friendly banter. "Try not to get yourself killed before I can mount a rescue mission" He added. "If I choose to rescue you that is"

Chris opened his mouth to reply but, judging by the rapid shuffling he heard, Leon was already in the vent and out of earshot. All he could do now was sit back down and wait.

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Leon tried to ignore the burning in his side as he ran down the corridor as quietly as he could. He'd managed to find his way out of the air vent system easily enough but it had landed him in a corridor that he didn't recognise. It had the exact same metal walls and grill flooring of the original corridor but this one was lined with doors. The few that weren't locked tight were offices, probably for the researchers. There was no sign of any staff which Leon found immensely strange. Either the whole floor wasn't in use or the people who used to work in the offices had run away. If they had run away what was it that they'd run away from? If it had been some sort of viral spill like Raccoon then he would've expected to see bodies but, with every room that he searched, he found nothing. The corridor was eerily silent except for the sound of his boots pounding on the grills as he ran.

Logic told him that eventually, he would come across a set of stairs or a lift. He was pretty certain that the facility would be larger than just one floor as the vent he'd crawled through felt like it had been going uphill for quite some time. The problem with using the vent was that he had no idea how many floors he'd moved up. He felt disorientated. It didn't help that he was completely unarmed and that he knew that Krauser was somewhere within the facility. He felt his stomach clench. He knew Krauser. He knew how he worked. This had been his plan all along. He'd taken their weapons and thrown them in a room he knew full well they could escape from. Jack Krauser was, by nature, a hunter. He was vicious predator who enjoyed the thrill of the chase. He'd get off on having Leon wandering around unarmed. It would make hunting him down all the more fun. Leon felt sickened that that had been the man he'd respected so much. The disciplined solider who become a close friend and ally. The same disciplined solider who'd made his life hell. He leant against a wall to catch his breath. He needed to stop thinking about Krauser. He needed to focus and assess the situation. He may be unarmed with no map or GPS but he knew he was probably in a better situation than Chris was. He knew that he needed to get back to his partner and quickly. The terrible thought dawned on him that it was entirely possible that by the time he got back to him, Chris could be dead. After all, it wasn't Chris that Krauser wasn't to play with.

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Minutes after Leon had left him, Chris had exhausted the entertainment value of his surroundings pretty quickly. He'd moved his hands across the walls a couple of times, looking for something that his partner might have missed but knowing all along that he probably hadn't. He'd tried to jump up to the vent opening but failed. He'd found a penny in the pockets of his combats so he'd tried to play catch but it was almost impossible in the dark. All the while, he'd been whistling through Queen's greatest hits to keep himself sane. He never could stand silence. He was about to start his own interpretation of 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' when light suddenly flooded into his prison, causing him to screw his eyes up in pain. The glare prevented him from opening his eyes for a few moments but eventually he found he could stand to open them again. After a couple of minutes he could finally see what had caused the sudden influx of light. There was a halogen light fixture embedded into the ceiling. Now it had been turned on he could see his surroundings clearly. The small room was exactly as he'd imagined, metal walls, concrete floor and the vent in the ceiling. To his surprise there was also a bank of monitors high up on the wall, out of his reach. They started to turn on one by one. He was being shown the other floors of the facility. He wondered who'd turned the monitors on and why until a horrible wave of realisation washed over him. He could see Leon running down a corridor on one of the screens. On another one of the screens he could see Krauser in an office, arming himself with a powerful magnum and some nasty looking serrated knives. Another screen showed three zombies shambling down a corridor. The screen at the end was partially obscured by a mass of writhing tentacles. Now he knew why the monitors had been turned on. He was being forced to witness a sadistic game of cat and mouse.

End of Chapter Two


	3. Chapter 3

The Facility Revisited – Chapter Three 

Leon clattered down a set of concrete stairs and yanked open the door he found at the foot of them. Logically, because the vents had sloped upwards, he needed to move downwards to get back to Chris. He found himself in yet another corridor. This one was identical to the last apart from it had fewer doors. He'd obviously moved away from the offices, perhaps to a recreation level or a set of smaller labs. His urge to get back to Chris was keeping him going but he needed to find some sort of weapon before he got back to the main lab. He put his hand on the first door knob to open it but as he did so he heard a horribly familiar noise. A noise that took him straight back to Raccoon. A noise that he'd only heard recently in his nightmares. The distant, guttural moan of a zombie echoed down the length of the corridor. Leon mentally cursed. He should've been expecting something like this sooner or later. The moans sounded pretty far away but were in the direction he was inevitably going to go so he would have to deal with sooner or later. He continued into the room and found it empty except for an old vending machine and a battered sofa. He sighed. It didn't seem very likely that someone would've just left a handy gun or knife laying around for him to take. That meant he was going to have to be a little more inventive. In his early training for the Secret Service, he'd been told that virtually anything could be a deadly weapon if it was in the right hands. Well he was certainly the right hands. As he left the room he noticed a discarded ballpoint pen on the carpet by the door. He picked it up and pocketed it. For now, it was the best that he had.

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Chris watched as Leon tried another door. There was a lift at the end of the corridor he was in but it was blocked off by three zombies nosily feasting on a body. Judging by the blood stained white coat laying a few feet away, the poor bastard had been a researcher. The sweat began to collect on his forehead and run down his back as he watched Leon move further up the corridor, closer to the zombies. He wanted to yell at him, to shout out his warnings but without a radio it was impossible. Krauser had moved from the office and was now stalking one of the other corridors. He was obviously searching for Leon and, judging by the amount of weapons, he was after the younger man's blood. Chris punched the metal wall. He needed to get the fuck out and he needed to do it quickly. He needed to find Leon and escape or find Krauser and kick the fucker's ass. Now the light had been turned on he could see the air vent easily. It didn't look that high up and even though he hadn't thought he could fit in it, trying was better than doing nothing. He started to jump up towards it, feeling increasingly desperate every time he missed. He kept looking at the screens, watching his partner get closer and closer to the zombies. Leon didn't have any weapons. He was highly trained but would he be able to tackle three zombies unarmed? He jumped up for the air vent again, cursing loudly as he missed once more. His eyes moved back to the screen where the researcher's body was still being mutilated. He imagined Leon sprawled out like that. Would the zombies be able to smell the infection from his wound? Would that draw them to him as soon as they were done with their sick feast? What if Krauser found him at the same time? He didn't doubt Leon's abilities in combat but would he be able to take all of them on at the same time? He saw Leon's body, broken and bleeding, with Krauser standing over him gloating and spitting vile words at him. Chris let out an almost inhuman growl as he clawed at the walls with his hands desperately.

He jumped as a scraping noise suddenly filled the room. He turned to see the metal door opening slowly, its sudden movement and reverberating noise ten times louder in the small room. Chris felt every muscle in his body tense as he waited for someone or something to attack him. He took a few tentative steps forward. He poked his head out of the prison and his brow furrowed in confusion. The lab was empty. No monsters, no zombies, no crazy people. He looked upwards, checking that nothing was hanging on or from the gantry waiting to jump down but that too was empty. He stepped out further into the lap and placed his hands on his hips, utterly baffled. He shrugged it off quickly, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe there'd been some sort of technical fault and the door had opened of its own accord. Whatever. He didn't care. He needed to get to Leon and he needed to get to him quickly. The weapons that Krauser had taken from them were long gone but Chris hadn't really expected to be that lucky. In the corner of the lab he spotted a door. It seemed to be the only other exit apart from the tentacle monster's door. He thundered towards it. It was locked but a swift shoulder barge sorted that out. He found himself in a stairwell with a set of concrete stairs that wound their way upward. He hurried up the stairs and stopped at the first door that he came to. His quickly formulated plan was to try every single door, hoping that eventually he would find Leon or Krauser.

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Leon pressed his back up against the wall as he drew the ballpoint pen from his pocket. A few metres ahead he'd spotted a group of three zombies feasting on a corpse. The group blocked his route to the lift ahead. He knew that if he wanted to get past them, he'd need to use the element of surprise on at least one of them. Luckily, all three of the zombies had their back to him and, judging from the horrible smell emanating from them, they'd been around a long time. Thinking bitterly that he was pretty much an expert on zombies, it meant that the older a zombie was, the drier it would be and more brittle, thus making it easier to take down quickly. He moved stealthily down the corridor, light-footed and nimble. Wielding the pen like he would a combat knife, he went for the zombie closest to him. He ran forward and lunged, jamming the tip of the pen into the base of the zombie's skull. A sickening, wet squelching noise told him that he'd hit his mark perfectly. The zombie crumpled to the floor. He tried to remove the pen but it was stuck fast and the second zombie moved forward with outstretched arms. He quickly leapt back and grabbed the creature by its head. He twisted it as violently as he could until he heard the satisfying crack of its neck breaking alongside the sound of its skin ripping. The third zombie had abandoned it feast and lunged. Leon slipped on the puddle of blood, landing heavily on his back as the zombie fell on top of him. It opened its mouth wide, its breath stinking like rotting flesh. Fighting back a strong wave of nausea, Leon grabbed it by its brittle wrists and pushed hard. The zombie fell backwards, slipping on the blood of its fallen brothers. Leon got to his feet as quickly as he could and whilst the zombie flailed beneath him, he brought his boot down hard on its skull. The liquefied brain matter splashed up the leg off his combats as the creature's head exploded underfoot. It was then that he noticed it was wearing a security guard's uniform, albeit a very tattered one. Trying to ignore the symphony of bodily fluids dripping onto the pipes below, he searched the body but it didn't look like the facility armed its guards with guns. The only thing the guard had on him was a nightstick. He grabbed it anyway. A nightstick was a hell of a lot better than a ballpoint pen. He also found a key card in the belt which he pocketed figuring that it might come in useful at some point. He gave himself a second to catch his breath before he pressed the lift's call button.

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Chris opened what felt like the hundredth door. The first thing he saw was Krauser standing at the other end of the corridor by a lift, seemingly waiting for it to arrive. Chris couldn't help but smirk as he stepped into the corridor and closed the door behind him silently. Krauser had his back to the corridor so it was going to be easy for Chris to get the drop on him. Chris knew that the longer he hung around, trying to formulate a plan, the more likely Krauser would be to turn around and spot him. The element of surprise was his only ally, considering his total lack of weapons and that Krauser was armed to the teeth. He was going to have to make use of his strength. It was how he worked best anyway. He wasn't the tactical type. He charged towards Krauser as quickly as he could. If he could rush the other man against the wall, it wouldn't be too hard to disarm him. Chris saw him turn around and reach for one of the small knives attached to a strap across his chest but before he could do anything, Chris was in his face.

He reached out to slam Krauser into the metal wall but the other man simply smirked. Chris saw the glint of shiny steel and then came a torrent of pain. Krauser had sunk the knife into the meat of his right shoulder. Chris reeled backwards and, with a deep breath, yanked the knife free. He used his uninjured left shoulder to barge Krauser up against the wall. Krauser had drawn him magnum but Chris slammed his wrist against the wall, jabbing the knife straight into it. This made Krauser drop the magnum and it fell to the floor with a clatter. Chris kicked the weapon away and, ignoring the pain in his shoulder, tried to force Krauser to the ground by pushing the struggling man into an arm lock. In terms of strength, Krauser was a pretty even match but Chris had pure rage coursing through his veins as well. Chris dug his boot into the back of Krauser's knee. As he fell to the floor, Krauser reached out, managing to pull Chris down with him. Chris however, quickly managed to take advantage of the situation by landing his weight on the other man. He dug his right knee into Krauser's upper arm and wrenched upwards on his forearm. He heard a snap as Krauser's arm broke just before Krauser wriggled free from his grasp. The other man's boot connected with the side of his ribcage as he kicked out and Chris found himself hitting the opposite wall from the sheer force of the man's kick. As he recovered, Chris caught a glimpse of Krauser's broken arm, he'd snapped it with such a force that there was bone sticking out of a nasty looking flesh wound. Krauser leapt to his feet quickly as Chris lay winded. An evil, snake-like, smirk crossed Krauser's features as he stood over him. His broken arm was beginning to tremble violently but there was no shadow of pain in his features. Chris panted heavily as he tried to force air into his lungs. Krauser wasn't acting like someone who'd just had their arm painfully broken. He watched in horror as the trembling intensified until, with another horrible crack, a large bone emerged from Krauser's wound. It was much too big and thick to possibly be a normal human bone. It was covered in blood and torn skin. It was juddering as if something was trying to break free from it.

Chris decided that he wasn't going to hang around to find out what it was. He dived for the magnum, executing a perfect roll as Krauser lunged for him. He rolled into a crouch and fired off three shots rapidly. Despite the horror of the situation, he couldn't help but smile as all three bullets penetrated Krauser's chest, dropping him to the floor. Chris waited for the next move but it didn't come. Instead he lay prone on the floor as blood dribbled onto the pipes below in a grim tattoo. Chris got to his feet and, with the gun still raised, edged his way around Krauser's motionless body. He fired off one last shot, straight into the other man's head, just to be sure.

"Hell yeah"! He crowed. "That's how we roll in the BSAA"!

"Was your childhood hero Arnold Schwartzenegger by any chance"? A familiar voice asked as the lift doors opened with a customary ping. Chris glanced around and saw Leon standing in the lift carriage looking unimpressed. The younger man's eyes flickered over Krauser's body but he didn't comment. Chris was so pleased to see his partner again that he was tempted to reach out and hug it but he didn't think that Leon would appreciate the contact. He settled instead for clapping him on the back, careful to avoid using his right shoulder which was, by now, beginning to really hurt.

"Look what I've got" He said with a cheesy grin, holding up Krauser's magnum with glee. It was then that he spotted the nightstick in Leon's hands. "Mine's better than yours" He added childishly. He didn't know whether it was shock or blood loss but he was feeling giddy, almost hyper, like he could take on a thousand Krausers. Leon stepped out of the lift and surveyed the scene before him.

"Is all this blood his"? He asked, nodding at the floor and at Chris' blood stained t-shirt.

"He stabbed me" Chris replied flippantly, pointing to his shoulder. "Was worth it to get this though" He held up the gun again. "It's a good model. Lightning Hawk" He looked at his bleeding shoulder. "This hurts like a son of a bitch though"

"Can you carry on"? Leon asked. His tone didn't seem to be one of concern. He was probably worried that the mission would be ruined. It would give him another reason to be all high and mighty. Well, Chris thought, no way was he going to let that happen.

"Course I can" Chris said. He would've shrugged but he imagined that would be pretty painful to do. "Did you manage to find anything else apart from your stick"? He asked derisively.

"A key card" Leon replied, totally ignoring Chris' teasing tone. "We should make our way back to the main lab. Now Krauser's out of the way we can collect some samples and then see about destroying the place"

"I bet you're glad he's dead" Chris blurted suddenly as he lead Leon back the way he'd came. It wouldn't take them long to make it back to the main lab. "He was a bastard to you" He added. Something unreadable flashed across Leon's face briefly before his guard returned.

"With a bit of luck we'll be able to retrieve our equipment" Leon continued as if Chris hadn't spoken. He drummed the nightstick in his palm as he spoke. "I'll get that call to Dennis...to that clean-up crew" He was speaking more to himself now and Chris could tell that Krauser's sudden reappearance was affecting his partner a lot more than he'd been letting on. Chris wanted to say something to comfort him but he couldn't think of anything to say.

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They made their way back up the concrete stairs that Chris had used and back into the main lab. The room was still deserted. There was no sign of any of their equipment. The only sign of recent occupation was a red beret dumped on the monitoring station which Chris recognised as the one Krauser had been wearing when he'd captured them. It was unfortunate that the hadn't retrieved their equipment but at least Chris still had the Lightning Hawk. Leon turned around to see Chris examining it.

"You shouldn't take enemies weapons" He said shortly. "Could be booby trapped"

"But it's cool" Chris whined. Which was true. It was an awesome gun and Chris didn't want to relinquish it. "Anyway, I doubt Krauser would be intelligent enough to do something like that" He tentatively touch the wound on his right shoulder. It was sore but the bleeding seemed to have stopped, at least for the moment.

"You don't know Krauser" Leon muttered. He pulled a USB stick out of one of the pockets of his combats and stuck it into the command console. Chris watched him tap away at the console keyboard for a few moments before he got bored and started wandering around the lab, looking for something to do. He poked at the vials of different coloured liquid for a bit but it didn't entertain him for very long. He turned his attentions instead to the huge water tank which he'd been trying to check out before they'd been rather rudely interrupted by Krauser. He strolled over to the tank which was still filled with the same murky water from earlier. He tapped on the glass again to see if there was anything inside it.

"Do you think you could leave that alone"? Leon asked witheringly.

"I wanna know what's in there" Chris protested, trying to see through the water. He was sure he could see something moving within its depths.

"You probably don't" Leon replied.

Before Chris could reply, a mass of tentacles exploded from the surface of the water accompanied by a smell similar to burnt bacon. He tried to dive out of the way but one of the thick, blackened tentacles curled around his neck. He let out a choked cry and Leon looked away from the command console.

"Shit"! Leon cursed at the sight of his partner being attacked amongst a mass of tentacles. From the tank, a large bulbous pink sac was slowly rising out of the murky water. It had a large circle of serrated teeth in the centre of it. The creature's body glistened as if it were coated in some sort of jelly. It reminded Leon of one of William Birkin's gruesome transformations. He ran towards Chris, slipping and sliding across the drenched tiles as he dodged seemingly hundreds of tentacles. Chris was struggling in the creature's grip, making worrying choking sounds. He was turning this way and that, frantically trying to free himself from the creature's vice like grip. Leon jumped for the tank, managing to hook his arm over the edge of it. The mouth reared towards him, the serrated teeth dripping with a mixture of blood and what looked like pond scum. Leon grabbed the nightstick from his belt and waited. The creature's mouth opened wider and it lunged for him. As it do so, Leon jammed the nightstick as far as he could down the creature's narrow throat. As he did so, he felt a tentacle wrap around his waist. He jammed the nightstick in further. The tentacle around his waist tightened and he felt the steri-strips on his wound burst. He let out a cry of pain and, with one last push, jammed the nightstick downwards again. The creature began to choke. It released its grip on his waist and Chris' neck as it sank backwards into the water. Leon leapt down from the side of the tank. His wound screamed in pain. Chris was on his hands and knees, taking great gasps of air. He looked up at Leon gratefully but the look soon turned to one of fear. He pulled the magnum out of his holster.

"Get down"! He ordered throatily.

Leon dropped to a squat and Chris fired. He turned round just in time to see the monster, which had obviously risen again, sink back into the water, its mouth exploding in a mass of blood.

"That's twice I've saved your ass" Chris said, his voice still hoarse. He held up the gun. "That was the last bullet too"

"Excellent, excellent" A strange voice sudden echoed around the room, following by the sound of slow clapping. Leon looked up at the gantry and saw a black clad figure standing there, pointing a powerful looking magnum in their direction. He was tall and lean with slicked back blonde hair and a twisted smile on his face. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of black sunglasses. One of his arched eyebrows was raised as if he found the whole situation amusing. Leon glanced over at Chris. He looked like a completely different person. His face was twisted with pure hatred. Leon had never seen his partner look so angry before.

"It was always a troublesome beast" The man spoke in a clipped tone. "Although I have no doubt that we'll be able to iron out its teething problems eventually" He smirked as he leant over the gantry's railing, still aiming the gun at them. "So it would seem that this facility isn't as secretive as I assumed. I see you're still trying to foil my plans Chris"

"Maybe I won't need to" Chris replied through gritted teeth. It looked like every single muscle in his body was tense. He looked like he was fighting the urge to be sick with revulsion. "If we're really lucky, this creation of yours will stab you in the gut before I get the chance. It seems to be the thing your creations do"

"Now that's mightily rude Chris" The man crooned, shaking his head disapprovingly as if Chris was a naughty toddler. "You're not even going to introduce me to your little friend"? He strutted along the gantry like a lion on the prowl.

"Leon" Chris didn't take his eyes off the man. "This is Wesker"

"And you, of course, are Leon Scott Kennedy" Wesker smirked. "One of the academy's finest I believe. Ranked highly in marksmanship and tactical pursuit. Former legal guardian of Miss Sherry Birkin and a high-ranking Secret Service agent. Wounded in the left shoulder during the Raccoon City incident and was, at one time, believed to be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" He continued smoothly. He moved towards a set of switches, still keeping the magnum trained on them both. "You may have been the rat that escaped Raccoon City but unfortunately, your luck has run out"

"What the fuck are you talking about you deranged bastard"? Chris shouted. He still sounded a little hoarse but his voice was certainly sounding better.

"Must you always speak before you think Chris"? Wesker tutted. "I'm sure that Mr Kennedy will have long since tired of your constant exclamations by now. Perhaps if you can contain your steroidal rantings for a just a moment then I can explain why I'm here. You see, you have something of mine and I want it back. Well, I say you, I mean your little friend here" He said, nodding at Leon. "Imagine my irritation when I discovered that you'd hacked into my computer network and downloaded some of my most precious files" He nodded at the command console where the USB stick was still plugged in. "Although I suppose you should be applauded Mr Kennedy. Our security systems aren't easy to circumvent. Sadly your efforts are fruitless. I can't have you reporting our sensitive information to your superiors-"

The rest of Wesker's sentence was lost in the sound of the large metal door crumpling. Leon didn't dare take his eyes off Wesker's magnum. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Chris was doing the same.

"KENNEDY"! Krauser burst into the room. Leon slid his eyes sideways. He could see Krauser standing in the ruined door frame, breathing heavily. Instead of a left arm, he had a large organic spear like appendage. It was almost as long as Krauser was tall and covered in sharp spines as well as a large spike at his elbow. It shone with blood and mucus and the skin around it was enlarged, every vein and capillary clearly visible. Krauser was staring at him and him alone, the familiar predatory smirk spreading across his face. "You're mine Comrade" He spat.

"Very well" Wesker, in a burst of superhuman speed, flipped over the gantry's railing and landed as deftly as a cat a couple of metres away from Chris. "Jack, you may have your boy toy. I know how much he means to you. Do with him what you wish. Chris here will be my own personal project"

"I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart" Krauser grinned as he raised his mutated arm above his head. "Now, witness the power"! He dived for Leon with lightning speed. Leon managed to duck and roll away but only just. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chris locked in combat with Wesker who'd obviously decided that just shooting Chris would be boring. Chris was punching with as much strength as his left arm would allow whilst trying to protect his injured right shoulder. Wesker was dodging each heavy blow easily, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. Leon would worry about Chris and his obviously fucked up problems with Wesker later. Right now, he was going to have to deal with whatever the hell Jack had turned into. No, Leon correct himself, this wasn't Jack. Jack was dead to him. This was Krauser. This was the man who'd made his life hell and, if he was going to beat him, he was going to have to focus. By the way he was moving, it seemed like his lightning fast moves weren't constant. Whatever alien virus was flowing through his body had certainly made his attacks more powerful but conversely, it seemed to slow him down afterwards. Leon knew he was going to have to wait for Krauser to attack him and then counter him quickly whilst he 'recovered'. It was a solid plan with one single drawback. His only 'weapon' had disappeared down the throat of the monster in the tank. He knew there was no way he could defeat Krauser hand to hand. He glanced around for something he could use. Krauser took advantage of this distraction and knocked him flying. Leon felt his breath leave him as he hit the floor. His injured side felt like it was on fire.

"This is how you like it isn't it Kennedy" Krauser advanced on him. "On your back for men"? He stood over him as Leon fought to get his breath back. He wondered why Krauser didn't just finish him off. He obviously wasn't done playing. "Fucking fag" But Leon wasn't listening, he was more concerned with the magnum hanging from Krauser's gun belt. If he could get to that...

"I'm going to enjoy seeing your blood splattered across this floor..." Krauser raised the mutated arm above his head.

"I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait" Leon replied, kicking Krauser in the groin as hard as he could. By the way Krauser reeled back, it looked like his balls were still human. Leon sprung forwards as Krauser back pedalled across the tiles, grabbing the magnum. Before Krauser had the chance to recover, Leon fired. The bullet hit Krauser's elbow and it exploded. Leon dropped to his knees as another unbearable wave of pain shot through his side. He pressed his hand to his t-shirt. It came away wet with his blood.

"Pathetic" Krauser's grin was back in place. A series of sharp spines unfurled from the damaged mess of his elbow. They fanned out and hardened, forming a wing like membrane that glistened under the lab's lights. "You're mine now Kennedy. I'm going to make sure you burn in hell" He stalked around Leon, circling him like a wolf preparing to attack its prey. Leon aimed the magnum and fired. Krauser moved the 'wing' quickly and deflected the bullet, causing it to bounce off and hit the command console. "Nice try" Krauser mocked, still circling.

Leon's attentions suddenly turned to the tank. There was something stirring within its waters. The monster! Krauser had his back to the tank and hadn't noticed. All Leon needed to do was keep him talking long enough...

"This is all a bit excessive considering you don't like the fact I'm gay" He said, aiming the gun again. He had to make Krauser think that he was biding his time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack.

"I'm surprised they haven't put you behind a desk yet" Krauser spat. "You're not fit to do the job you do Kennedy. Surely this is a man's job"? He snorted. The monster behind him was still stirring, the tip of a tentacle broke the surface of the water. "I used to respect you and look at you now"

"That's rich coming from someone with a bloody mess for an arm" Leon replied with a derisive snort. Krauser chuckled and flexed the membrane.

"Ha. You and I both know why the government took that little girl away" He taunted. Leon didn't have to try hard to flash the hurt look on his face, knowing that would be what Krauser was expecting. The older man grinned proudly. "They didn't want to leave a child in the hands of a corrupted, filthy-" The remainder of Krauser's insult was cut off as a tentacle shot towards him, wrapping around his neck just as it had done with Chris. He tried to twist in its grip to see what was attacking him but he was quickly subdued by more tentacles, winding over his human arm and his broad chest. He violently lashed out with his mutated arm only to have it crushed by two more thick tentacles. His eyes widened with fear as he was raised off the floor. The monster was dragging him towards the tank. Leon kept his eyes on the older man, watching as the tentacles squeezed him harder and harder until he started to wheeze.

"Leon...help...me..." were the last words Leon heard before Krauser disappeared into the depths of the tank with an almighty splash. Seconds later, a large spurt of blood erupted from the surface from the water. It rained down on Leon as he watched the water return to its murky calm. It was over. Krauser was dead.

He didn't have the time to process it. He turned back to the ongoing fight between Chris and Wesker. Chris was still doing his best to throw punches and land kicks. His face was bloody and bruised from the hits that Wesker had been able to land during the melee. Leon watched in horror as Wesker grabbed hold of Chris by the neck and threw him against the wall, holding him there as he started to squeeze the life out of him. Chris struggled, kicking out and trying to tear the fingers away from his neck. Leon aimed the magnum and fired, watching as the bullet landed in Wesker's arm. Wesker dropped Chris and turned around to face him.

"Pesky rat" Wesker spat, showing no signs of pain. "Krauser was supposed to take care of you" His left arm hit out, catching Chris in the jaw as he'd tried to take advantage of the distraction and sneak up behind him. Chris moaned in pain and spat a mouthful of blood in Wesker's face. Moving like lightning, Wesker elbowed Chris hard in the stomach. The force of the blow lifted Chris off his feet and he fell heavily onto the tiles. "Damn you both" Wesker snarled as Leon fired another shot. He dodged it easily and kicked Chris hard in the shins. He pulled out a sleek looking handgun. It didn't look like any Leon had ever seen before. It must've been a custom piece. He aimed it straight at Leon. "I tire of these pathetic parlour games. Chris, you're still the disappointment you always were. Perhaps one day you will prove yourself to be a worthy adversary" Keeping the gun trained on Leon, he pulled a small remote out of the pocket of his jacket. "I'm giving you ten minutes to escape this facility. A sporting chance I think you'll agree. As for your little friend here. I'm afraid he won't be so lucky"

Chris fought back waves of nausea that threatened to overtake him from Wesker's last blow. His head felt fuzzy. His right shoulder was killing him. Wesker had beaten him again. He jumped as he heard two gunshots accompanied by the sound of a body hitting the floor. He looked up and saw Wesker stalk away to the command console. He tore the USB from its port and Chris heard the swift tapping of his boots as he made his swift exit. If Wesker was ok then that meant it hadn't been his body hitting the floor. Chris got to his feet as quickly as he was able. He hauled his bleeding and abused body over to where Leon lay, crumpled on the lab floor. A steady stream of blood was oozing from his left thigh and his hands were wrapped around his stomach.

"Shit..."

"My stomach..." Leon whispered when he saw Chris approach.

"I know, I know" Chris fought to stay calm. He'd been through all that shit with the mansion and the crazy goings on in Antarctica and he'd managed to keep his cool so he was damned if he was going to go to pieces now. "We need to get the hell out of here. The place is gonna blow in ten minutes"

"Right..." Leon replied through gritted teeth. He forced his body into a sitting position and, with Chris' help, he got to his feet. The pain in his stomach was intense. It was far worse than when Annette Birkin had shot him back in Raccoon. With shaking hands, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his PDA. He tapped out a hasty message and let it drop to the floor.

"There's a first aid kit here" Chris was by the wall next to the command console, wrenching a green box from its hangings. He yanked the kit open and grabbed a couple of bandages with thick dressing pads attached. He ripped open the packages and hurried back to Leon. "Shit..." Leon started to sway. "I think I'm gonna faint..."

Chris grabbed hold of him and gently but firmly forced him back down to the floor. He lifted Leon's t-shirt that had become totally saturated with blood. He didn't want to see the state of the wound. Instead, he pressed one of the gauze pads to it and wound the bandage around the younger man's middle. Leon's face was deathly white and his eyes were bleary and unfocused. Chris worked quickly, adding the second bandage, ever aware of their ticking time limit. There was none of the usual flashing lights and calm female voices warning that the facility was about to blow but he didn't want to take the chance on Wesker's threat being idle. He quickly glanced at his watch, nearly two minutes had already ticked away.

"Don't faint" Chris ordered. "I know it's hard and you're gonna wanna but don't" He pulled Leon's top down over the bandaged wound. He didn't have time to deal with the wound to Leon's thigh. He hoped the job he'd done on his stomach would do. "I've never lost a partner and I wanna keep that record so let's go"!

"You try...being shot..." Leon argued as Chris helped him back to his feet. He shook his head to try and clear his vision. His thigh was throbbing painfully, his stomach felt as if it was going to explode from the pain, his side continued to ache, vying for attention. He'd done this before but it had only been his shoulder. He could feel himself drifting away.

"Maybe later" Chris replied. "Now come the fuck on. You can do this"! Chris mind moved quickly, plotting their method of escape. The only exit he knew was the hole that led back to the cave. At least it was close. The only problem was the destroyed ladder. There was no way Leon would be up to climbing. He remembered seeing that the bottom of the ladder was more or less intact so maybe if they could get up as far as they could there'd be a way of getting to the top. There wasn't time to stand around and think about it. They had to actually get there first. One glance at Leon told him that it wasn't going to be easy. His eyes were clouded with pain and he was looking very unsteady on his feet. A wave of respect for the younger man passed over him. A lesser man would've given up.

"Chris..." Leon moaned. Chris hurried forward and caught him just as Leon's consciousness faded away. It looked like he was going to have to carry him. A fireman's lift would aggravate the stomach wound so Chris hooked his arm underneath Leon's knees and hoisted him into his arms. His shoulder protested but he did his best to ignore it. His right eye was beginning to swell from the impact of Wesker's many punches, obscuring his vision. Every single muscle in his body cried out for rest. He pushed past the pain and started to run, heading straight for the lab door that Krauser had warped and twisted with his sudden reappearance.

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He ran down the corridor, breathing heavily. He could feel that Leon's skin was getting colder and colder and he didn't need a medical degree to tell him that that was bad news. He was losing a lot blood and he wouldn't last long if they didn't get to a hospital soon. When he reached the ladder, Chris gently laid Leon down on the floor to assess the damage. As luck would have it, more than half of the ladder was still intact, if a little charred, and it looked safe enough to climb. The rope they'd used to rappel down was still there. It would hurt but it was the only way up. Now the problem was how to get Leon up there. He would need a harness of some sort as Leon was still out cold. His hands moved to his waist. He was wearing a black leather belt under his gun belt. It wasn't ideal and it was certainly a dumb idea but he certainly didn't have the time to go searching around for rope. It was all he had. He dropped to one knee and unbuckled Leon's belt before hauling the younger man to his feet and quickly propping him up against the wall. It was hard to move so much dead weight but he just about managed. Leon instantly started to slump downwards so Chris pressed his back against his partner's chest to support him. Using his hands blindly, he threaded the ends of Leon's belt through the two loops on the back of his combats and refastened the belt. It took him a couple of tries but eventually it felt secure. He reached behind him and pulled Leon's arms over his shoulders, wincing as the dead weight came into contact with his injured shoulder. He pulled Leon's wrists together and secured them tightly with his black leather belt. He hoped it would be enough to do the job and that the stitching on his belt loops would hold. He'd been trained to make do with what he had and considering the circumstances, Chris figured he'd done a pretty good job. He'd have to remember to tell Leon when they got out. He'd hardly be able to call him incompetent then! Taking a deep breath, he shifted his unconscious partner on his back until he was hanging comfortably and slowly started to climb the ladder.

The climb was hard and awkward. Leon's weight was putting a strain on his aching muscles. He was trying his best to only use his left arm but it wasn't easy. He knew things would get even harder when they reached the rope. He'd once tried to climb a rope one handed during training and he'd ended up in a heap on the floor with a very red face. He looked down. He didn't fancy landing on that floor.

"Come on Redfield" He muttered. "You can do this" He reached out for the rope. The hole leading to freedom was a tantalisingly short distance away. In just a few metres, they'd be home free.

"Agent Redfield"? A man appeared, leaning down into the hole. He was wearing a large white hood with a reflective visor. It was only the voice that had given away his sex. For a fleeting moment, Chris wondered if this was going to be Wesker's final kick in the teeth but then he remembered Leon using his PDA back in the lab. It was the clean up crew!

"I've got Agent Kennedy with me" Chris answered. "He's badly wounded, two gunshots, thigh and stomach"

"Hold still" The man replied. "We'll pull you up" He disappeared, presumably to arrange a couple of others to help. Chris breathed a sigh of relief. He felt the rope start to pull upwards as the men hauled. When he emerged from the hole he could see that the cave was full of people dressed in the same white boiler suit and matching hood. Two of the men had red crosses on the chest of their suits, denoting their medical training. It was these two that instantly ran forward, hurriedly releasing Leon from the belts and carefully laying him down on a waiting stretcher. Chris dropped to his hands and knees, utterly exhausted. He was helped to his feet by another boiler suited man who started to reel off questions. Chris however, could only focus on the stretcher and the two medics crowded round Leon. They'd strapped an oxygen mask to his face and one of them was giving him some kind of injection. They nodded to each other and lifted the stretcher.

"I need to go with him" Chris said, weakly pushing his helper aside. The man placed a firm hand on his left shoulder and tried to pull him in the opposite direction. He heard the words 'shoulder' and 'bleeding' but didn't focus on them. It slowly dawned on him that the ten minutes Wesker had given him must've long expired and there'd been no explosion. The time limit had been one of Wesker's little games. If it wasn't for his sheer exhaustion or his worry about Leon's condition, he would've been fuming. He knew he'd have to deal with the reality of Wesker's return but at the moment only his partner mattered. He followed the medics, ignoring the shouts from the others, and watched as they loaded Leon into a waiting van that was obviously meant to serve as an ambulance. He climbed in alongside them, waiting for someone to yell at him and tell him to get out. He was surprised when one of the medics sat him down and allowed him to watch on as they fought to save his partner's life.

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Chris opened his eyes, his mouth dry and his head pounding. He felt like he'd been asleep for decades. He'd wanted to keep sleeping but the sterile white ceiling above him confused him. It didn't look like an ceiling he recognised. Sterile white ceilings usually meant one thing. He was in hospital. He sat up in his bed and his thoughts were confirmed. He was definitely in a hospital room and he was wearing a thin hospital gown. His right arm was bundled up in a sling and he could see the thick padding of a dressing on his right shoulder underneath the gown. Everything ached and we was pretty sure that his face was quite badly swollen.

He noticed that he was in a side room on his own. He wondered if this was because he was the only one who'd survived. Well, he certainly wasn't going to lay around and wait for some nurse to tell him. He felt sick as he remembered the critical condition Leon had been in when they'd escaped the facility. He decided to take some action and find out what had happened himself. He threw his sheets off and twisted round. He shivered as his bare feet came into contact with the cold tiled floor. He fought the urge to gag as he caught a nose full of sterile hospital smell. He'd never liked hospitals. He'd been in and out of the emergency room when he was kid with various injuries and broken bones due to his need for adventure and then, of course, he'd been forced to sit for hours on the same chair waiting for news of his parents, only to be told that they'd died. He shuddered. He hated hospitals.

He stood up on slightly uneasy legs, wondering how long he'd been asleep for. There was no clock in the room so he had no idea what time it was. It was light outside so it was obviously daytime. He figured that a day had passed at the most. If he'd been in a coma then he would've woken up in intenstive care. As he crept out of the room, no medical staff came running to yell at him so he moved down the hallway slowly, feeling disorientated. All of the signs on the wall were in Spanish so it was hard to tell where he was going and if he was even going in the right direction. The bulky bandages on his shoulder were itchy and the sling was damn annoying. His gown rustled as he walked. It wasn't one of those backless ones that showed your ass but, even if it was, Chris wouldn't have cared. He had a great ass.

He wondered if he could find his partner through sheer determination. Hospitals were big places and it was highly likely he'd be discovered and ordered back to his room before he could find Leon. A horrible feeling washed over him. What if Leon wasn't in any of these rooms? What if Leon was in the morgue? He shuddered and tried to rid his brain of that thought. Now wasn't the time to be thinking stuff like that. Besides, Leon was tough. He was a survivor. There was no way he could be dead.

He made sure to check the clipboards hanging from every door he walked past until finally, on the next floor down, he found the name he was looking for. He did a quick check around to make sure that the coast was clear before he quietly slipped into the room. It looked exactly like his room except the person in the bed was a hell of a lot more ill. Leon was laid out on his back, the crisp white sheets pulled up to his chest. He was hooked up to various alien machines that made a symphony of disturbing noises. Wires and tubes were attached to various parts of Leon's body and bags of liquid hung on a metal stand. They were being dripped into Leon's body through a tube in the back of his right hand. The most shocking thing about the whole sight was the thick tube that went down the younger man's throat. It meant that Leon was alive but only just. A machine was doing his breathing for him. There was a chair next to the bed and Chris sat down in it, wincing as the cold plastic penetrated the thin material of his gown.

"You're not supposed to be in here" A gentle voice said from the doorway. Chris turned around to see Dennis standing there. It was the first time Chris had seen him wearing anything but a suit. He was dressed casually in expensive looking jeans and a tan, v-necked sweater. He looked utterly exhausted. He'd probably been at the hospital since their rescue. He was clutching a plastic cup of coffee in one hand. "You should be in bed resting" He added as he crossed the room and proffered the cup. "You probably need this more than I do right now" He said by way of explanation.

"How is he"? Chris asked, taking the cup and nodding towards Leon. He inwardly cursed at the stupidity of the question. It was horribly obvious that Leon was in a bad way. Dennis looked at him levelly for a moment.

"They're not telling me much" He admitted. "I keep hearing the same old phrases. They keep telling me that it's too early to tell. In my experience with these matters that means they don't want to give us any false hopes" He looked at Leon for a moment and sighed deeply. "He's undergone surgery to remove the bullets that were lodged in his abdomen and thigh and they were both removed successfully" He shrugged, clearly annoyed. "That's all they've told me. I'm claiming to be family as well. I've told them I'm his Uncle"

Chris nodded and took a sip from the plastic cup. The coffee was still hot and it scalded his mouth but he barely felt it. He stared unblinkingly at the motionless figure in the bed. Leon had been a total jerk to him since they'd first met but, over time, Chris had grown to respect him for everything he'd been through. Seeing him this way after all of that seemed like some cruel joke. He half expected Leon to sit up and spit some acidic comment about how he'd never be so unprofessional as to be comatose. He glanced back at Dennis who was staring at Leon too, his arms clamped tightly across his chest. He looked worried. Chris hadn't known Dennis for long but it was disturbing to see him look anything but composed. He obviously cared for Leon a lot more than just a professional capacity.

"Have you been home yet"? He asked.

"No" Dennis shook his head. "I came here as soon as I heard" His eyes were fixed on Leon. Chris noticed that the older man's hands were shaking slightly. "You should rest" He said suddenly. "I'll let you know if anything changes" He gave Chris' uninjured shoulder a gentle but meaningful squeeze. Chris stood up and wordlessly handed the coffee back to Dennis. He'd come into the room expecting to feel better, to feel safe in the knowledge that Leon was alive but with Leon's multiple machines and Dennis' honest words, he actually felt a hell of a lot worse.

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Chris managed to stay confined to his hospital bed for roughly twenty-four hours before he decided that he'd had enough. He hated being forced to stay in his bed and the food was terrible. He had a TV but the programmes were all in Spanish. The nurses didn't speak very good english and the only one who did was a crotchety old witch. The main thing that did it for him though, was the smell. The horrible, invading, unescapable bleach like smell that invaded his nostrils constantly. He couldn't take it anymore. It brought back too many painful memories. It reminded him of the hours he'd spent trying to comfort his heart broken little sister whilst their parents were away, dying in some part of the hospital that they weren't allowed to go. And now, to make matters even worse, the smell reminded him of Leon and the thick tube that was down his throat.

He shrugged off his blankets and clambered out of his bed. He yanked off his sling and stretched his arm out, relishing the freedom. His shoulder was still quite painful but it was nothing that he couldn't deal with. He found his clothes stowed away in a small cupboard next to his bed. His top and combats had been cleaned and there was still a hole in his t-shirt from Krauser's knife. He dressed quickly and slid out of the room, grateful for the absence of any medical staff. He certainly wasn't in the mood for a lecture. He wanted to go and see Leon before he left but he didn't want to risk being spotted. He wasn't sure if the rules for discharging himself would be the same in Spain as they were in America.

He found the hospital's exit quickly enough and found a taxi even quicker. The driver raised an eyebrow questioningly and Chris tried to remember the little Spanish that Leon had tried to treach him. He proceeded to explain, in a mixture of very bad and slightly made up Spanish, where it was that he wanted to go. His luck was in yet again as the driver seemed to understand and sped away from the hospital grounds. Chris didn't look back.

He tried his best to ignore the feelings of guilt that had crept up on him on the taxi ride home. They intensified as he let himself into the house. He knew that he should've gone to see Leon but he'd allowed his need to get out to outweight that. He tried to reason with himself. It wasn't like he was leaving Leon totally alone. He had Dennis with him. Chris strolled into the lounge area and looked around. It wasn't the first time he'd been in the house alone but now it felt strange. Leon wasn't just out shopping or at the office. He wasn't going to suddenly come through the door and throw some snarky comment at him. He was laying in a hospital bed. Possibly dying.

Chris shook his head. He didn't want to start thinking like that again. What he needed was a good old fashioned distraction. He decided the best thing to do was to be helpful and gather a bag of Leon's things for Dennis to take to the hospital. Not only would it serve as the perfect distraction, it would also make him feel less terrible for just deserting his partner. He climbed the stairs and let himself into Leon's bedroom. He'd only been in it twice before and he hadn't had the opportunity to take any of it in. The first thing he noticed was the shrine-like tidiness. It was a little overwhelming. The cream carpet beneath his feet was plush and spotlessly clean. His own bedroom carpet was the total opposite. In fact, he was struggling to recall the colour.

Just like the other rooms in the house, the bedroom didn't give anything away about its owner. Chris wondered why Leon seemed to have such a problem with personalising things. A black metal framed double bed took up most of the space, its pillows plump and its sheets immaculate. It had matching pine drawers at either side of it. There was a large wardrobe in one of the corners and, by the french doors that led out to the balcony, was a large squashy armchair. He smiled as he imagined Leon sitting in that chair, probably with his laptop or a mission brief, working as a gentle breeze came through the doors. It was weird for him to be thinking about Leon so much. It didn't seem that long ago that he wanted to strangle the younger man, or at least give him a good punch.

He headed over to the drawers by Leon's side of the bed, pausing as his hand wrapped around the handle. He wasn't being invasive. He had no idea where Leon kept his pyjamas and he needed to organise some for him. He wondered if Leon would see it that way. He opened the first drawer and found it full of skin and haircare products, all lined up neatly. He rummaged through them, upsetting them all, a lot of the stuff looked pretty expensive. He thought about his old run-of-the-mill hair gel with its gummed up lid. He didn't have a bag to put it in yet but he grabbed a tub of hair wax and tossed it onto the bed. He figured that Leon would want something for his hair even if he couldn't use it right away.

The second drawer revealed what it was that he was looking for. Leon's clothes. There wasn't very many and most of them seemed to be either black or navy blue and largely consisted of the fitted t-shirts that his partner seemed so fond off. Chris delved deeper into the drawer, trying not to make a mess, hoping to come across a pair of pyjamas or some shorts or something. He tossed the other clothes aside idly. He'd sort them out later. His eyebrows raised in surprise as he came to the bottom of the drawer and found the one thing he wasn't expecting to find. Leon's old RPD uniform. He picked it up and held it aloft just to check that it was actually real. The top was largely intact and smelt freshly laundered although there were some shadows of bloodstains splattered across it. He stared at the white RPD lettering that was emblazoned across the chest plate. The worst of the bloodstains seemed to be centered around the right arm pit where there was a ragged hole. Chris poked his finger through it. It was obviously where he'd been shot. He couldn't understand why the hell Leon would want to keep something like that. He remembered his old S.T.A.R.S uniform. One of the first things he'd done after escaping the mansion was burn it.

_He poked at the burning gobs of cloth with a stick. Stood in the back garden of Barry's cabin, a roaring fire burned away his blood and gore stained uniform. Jill and Rebecca were upstairs sleeping but Chris couldn't. Not even the pure exhaustion could grant him the respite of sleep. Barry seemed to feel that way too. He was in his study. Doing what, Chris didn't know. It felt like he didn't know a lot of things anymore. Most of what he thought he knew had turned out to be a lie. And it had all been perportrated by one man. Chris glared at the flames. He was being an idiot. Burning his uniform wasn't going to burn away the pure hatred he felt for the man he'd formally called 'Captain'_

Why the hell had Leon wanted to keep something from his own nightmare? Chris folded the top back up and crammed it back in the drawer. As he did so, his hand brushed against something cool and solid. He felt all the way to the back of the drawer and found what it was. He pulled out a small solid silver photo frame. He flipped it over and stared down at the photo it held. A small blonde girl who could've been no older than twelve, was grinning at the camera and standing in front of a sign advertising miniature golf. Leaning casually against this sign with his hand on the girl's shoulder was Leon. Chris studied the celluloid image of his partner. Leon was smiling happily at the camera. It was a casual, easy-going smile that Chris hadn't seen before. Leon looked relaxed and happy. He seemed like a totally different person. Chris wondered if this side of his partner was still there, just well hidden under his practised cold facade.

Chris put the the photo frame back into the drawer and closed it quickly. He'd wanted to know more about his partner but doing it this way felt wrong somehow and he'd already made the mistake of looking at his file. The RPD top and the photo exposed Leon too painfully, almost as if the younger man was standing right in front of him naked. Chris grabbed the hair wax and quickly left the room, closing the door behind him. He'd shove some of his own clothes into a bag for Leon or just grab whatever was in the washing machine. A sudden, loud trill startled him, almost causing him to fall down the stairs. He realised the phone in the hallway was ringing. He hurried over to it and stared down at the black plastic, wondering whether or not he wanted to answer it. What if it was bad news? His indecision went on too long and the phone clicked onto its answering machine.

'Leon Kennedy. Leave a message.'

Chris couldn't help but smile at that. That was Leon all over. Straight to the point. The answer phone bleeped and Dennis' irritated sounded voice came through the tiny speaker.

"Mr Redfield. I don't think I'm wrong in assuming that you're there, so if you would be kind as to pick up the receiver I would greatly appreciate it"

Chris gulped and did as he was told. Dennis sounded pretty pissed.

"I'm here"

"I hope you realise that the hospital are severely displeased with your disappearing act" Dennis reprimanded. Judging by the background noises, it seemed he was still at the hospital. Chris could hear the buzz of people around him. "You've been officially discharged against medical advice"

"I guessed as much" Chris replied with a careful shrug. His shoulder was still pretty sore. He didn't really give a damn about the whole 'AMA' thing. He'd done it a few times before and he'd always lived to tell the tale. He licked his dry lips and swallowed hard, trying to work up the courage to ask after Leon. He knew that he wouldn't be able to deal with the answer if the news was bad.

"I'll be leaving for the office now and in one hour's time I expect you to be there" Dennis continued, his voice slightly softer but still professional and matter-of-fact. "We have some things that we need to discuss"

Chris nodded even though he knew Dennis couldn't see. All of a sudden he didn't really feel like talking. Why did Dennis need to see him so urgently? Why wasn't he just telling him to rest?

"You'll be glad to know that Leon regained conciousness shortly after I discovered your escape. He's obviously stil in quite a lot of pain but his doctor is very confident about his condition. It's expected that he'll make a full recovery"

"I FUCKING KNEW IT"! Chris suddenly yelled in pure outburst of relief. He sank against the wall. He was glad that Leon's phone was cordless because it would've probably been dragged out of the wall at that point. "Didn't doubt it for a second" He said triumphantly.

"Of course" Dennis replied smoothly. "I shall see you in an hour" He added, stressing the 'see you' very clearly before hanging up. Chris put the receiver back in its cradle. He felt as if a massive weight had just been hauled off his shoulders. Leon was alright! Whatever this stupid meeting with Dennis was about he'd be able to deal with it.

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Leon stared up at the thin strip light on the ceiling. He was finally alone. As soon as he'd opened his eyes he'd been surrounded by a flurry of doctors and nurses fussing over him. As soon as they'd sorted him out and were confident that he was going to be fine, they'd left him alone to rest. It had taken him a while to exactly remember what had happened. He keep getting teasing flashes of memory in his mind, inside the lab, the corridors, those zombies, Krauser's blood exploding from the tank, Wesker's cruel snake-like smile. He shifted around in the bed a bit, trying to find a comfortable position. A large gauze pad covered his abdomen. A small drainage tube stuck out from underneath the bandages. More bandages were tightly bound around his thigh with another pad covering his injured side. The wounds weren't really causing him pain, more like an uncomfortable dull ache. That, he figured, was probably down to whatever it was they were dripping into his right arm. The only real pain seemed to be coming from his throat, which felt raw and irritated. He'd woken up with a tube down his throat and having it removed hadn't been pleasant. His head felt fuzzy and muddled. How long had he been out? He shifted in the bed again, still questing after a more comfortable position. He hated laying on his back. He much preferred to sleep on his side but it didn't seem to be an option.

"Should you really be doing that"? A familiar voice came from the doorway. Leon looked up to see Chris standing there, his goofy smile plastered on to his idiotic face.

"Moving"? Leon questioned as Chris entered the room and flopped down into the chair beside his bed. "I am rather fond of it, yes"

"Y'know, I think I prefered you comatose" He grinned at the younger man and proudly held a carrier bag aloft. "Got you some grapes" He said triumphantly.

"Thank you" Leon blurted the words out before he even had a chance to think about them. He watched as Chris threw himself into the chair beside his bed. Who'd have thought that someone so oafish was capable of getting it together in a crisis and actually saving his life?

"They were half price cos they were a bit squashed" Chris explained, delving into the bag and pulling out a bag of grapes. "Plus, I didn't think the shop lady understood my Spanish because the first time I asked for grapes she brought me back a toothbrush and a small comb"

"I'm not thanking you for the grapes" Leon replied firmly. "I'm thanking you for saving my life back there" He added quietly. He looked away quickly, the light above his bed suddenly seemed interesting. He could feel a slight blush creeping across his cheeks. He wasn't used to saying thankyou and he certainly wasn't used to relying on anyone else to help him.

"Now that wasn't too hard to say was it"? Chris' tone was light, teasing, and Leon turned back to look at him. He had a cheesy grin fixed on his face and his mouth was bulging with what seemed to be a generous handful of the grapes.

"Pig" Leon shook his head. Chris started to chew his mouthful, some of the juice dribbling down his chin. He wiped it with the back of his hand and threw the bag of grapes onto the beside locker. "How's your shoulder"? Leon nodded at the injury. It was strange. After being prodded and poked by various doctors, he thought there was nothing he wanted more than to be left alone. Now Chris was here though, being left alone was the last thing on his mind. A part of him, however small, was actually glad to see his partner and that was a feeling he never would've been able to predict.

"Meh" Chris waved his hand dismissively. "Hurts a bit but I'm fine. Don't you want to hear my amazing tale of how I single handedly rescued you from a burning lab in the middle of nowhere"?

"I don't remembered any fire" Leon frowned. He didn't remember much about what happened after Wesker shot him but he was pretty certain that there wasn't a fire.

"Well..." Chris hedged. "Ok...maybe there wasn't like a towering inferno or anything, but it was still pretty cool" Chris insisted, helping himself to a glass of water that was a beside Leon's bed. " Ok..anyway. So, Wesker's running for his life and I'm in the middle of the lab. You're on the floor bleeding out-"

"I was concious at that point" Leon reminded him. "And Wesker wasn't running for his life. He wasn't scared"

"Oh he was scared" Chris said adamantly. "I could only see him from the back at that point but his back looked very scared" He nodded. "Anyway there I am" He continued, obviously not dettered by Leon's refusal to believe his crazy story. "I'm practically performing field surgery when this alarm goes off. It's screaming that we've got ten minutes to get out of the place or it's gonna blow! So I fling you over my shoulder and run out of the lab. There's a million zombies chasing me, Wesker could be round any corner..." Chris stopped, mid sentence, when he realised that Leon was wincing, his features twisted with pain. There was an odd noise coming out of his mouth. Was he actually laughing?

"Stop it...stop it.." Leon was hunched over in pain. "It really hurts to laugh"

"Sorry" Chris replied sheepishly. He couldn't help but grin like an idiot. He was so happy and relieved that Leon was alive and going to be ok that he felt nothing could ruin his mood. Not only had he managed to survive another hellish encounter with Albert Wesker, the whole 'adventure' seemed to have strengthed his relationship with the younger man. He snaked his hand through the bars of the hospital bed and brushed it over Leon's shoulder, careful to avoid the wires and IV. Leon looked at it but didn't shove it away or say anything. Instead, he sank back onto his pillows and closed his eyes. Chris would've been happy to stay there indefinately, chatting with his partner or just watching him sleep but a quick glance at his watch told him that it was nearly time for meeting with Dennis. He'd have to rush if he wanted to get there on time.

"Hey, I've gotta go and meet Dennis. He wants to see me at the office"

"Hmm. Probably to debrief" Leon muttered without opening his eyes. "Nothing to worry about..." He added. "'m sleepy anyway..."

Chris got up carefully and made sure to quietly shut the door on his way out.

00000000

"So Chris, how's the shoulder"? Dennis didn't sound overly pissed off as Chris took a seat in his office. He'd made it just in time thanks to a taxi driver who could speak English. As he sa down, he noticed a small silver tray on the desk top with a plain brown teapot and matching tea cups arranged on it beside a small jug of milk and some sugar cubes. It was staring at the sugar cubes that made Chris realise he was starving hungry. He wondered if Dennis would mind him reaching out and grabbing one. He decided against it as Dennis sat down opposite him.

"It's alright"

"Excellent, excellent" Dennis' attentions were turned to his laptop where he was tapping away at the keys. The whole set up reminded Chris of going to the doctor's office. Dennis even sort of looked like a doctor with his posh suit and his glasses. He tapped a couple more keys before leaning back in his chair and regarding Chris over the top of his wire framed glasses. "On behalf of the Government, I'd like to thank you for the bravery and commitment that you've shown this agency. It was your outstanding skills that ensured you saved the life of one of our own" He said carefully. It had a rehersed quality to it, like it was something he'd been told to say but not something he actually believed. "Be that as it may" He continued. "It's time that you were released from your duties here and allowed to return to America to recuperate"

Chris frowned and wondered what the hell Dennis was talking about before it sunk in. He'd actually almost forgotten that he wasn't in America. Although Leon had never been the most welcoming and friendly of hosts, he was starting to consider his place as more he thought about his actual home, the more he realised that he didn't particularly like the idea of going back, at least not yet.

"I wanna stay here" Chris blurted. He was aware of how childish he sounded but it was true. He didn't want to go home. He wasn't even sure why but he figured that it must be something to do with Leon.

"Well I certainly have no problem with that" Dennis shrugged. "But I'm afraid when it comes to my superiors, it's not a case of what you want. They believe that you have provided the service that they required and now, for want of a more eloquent way of putting this, you are surplus to requirements" He explained. "They inform me that they're no longer willing to subsidize your living allowance"

"Hold on a second" Chris was suddenly confused. "You're telling me that I have a living allowance"? He blinked. Since when was he getting free money from the government and why hadn't anyone bothered to tell him of this important fact? He figured that since Leon was putting him up, all he needed to bother about was his food. But since the mishap with his luggage, Leon had been taking care of that as well. There was always food in the fridge and that was about as much thought as Chris had given it.

"Yes" Dennis nodded, he was trying to keep a straight face but Chris caught a hint of an amused smile. "The government has been providing you with a small living allowance since your arrival"

"So it's in my bank account now"? Chris asked incredulously. His eyes suddenly narrowed. "Can you take it all away or do I get to keep it even if I haven't spent it"? He made a mental note to check his balance as soon as possible.

"The point is Chris" Dennis ignored the question. "My superiors are only prepared to pay for your flight home if you leave tomorrow morning" There was something about the way Dennis kept using the term 'my superiors'. It was obvious that he didn't agree with them.

"I can't leave" Chris replied firmly. He wasn't totally sure why he was being so adamant about it. He hadn't spoken to Claire since he'd left and she'd probably be worrying. Plus, he was pretty sure that he'd forgotten to make sure somebody was feeding his two goldfish, Maverick and Iceman.

"And I for one am in agreement" Dennis muttered quietly. "But I need to be sure that you understand the consequences of your refusal to leave. We won't be paying for your journey home and as far as we're concerned, you'll be considered a civilian. You'll no longer be able to access this building or any of our facilities"

"Hey, that's fine by me" Chris shrugged. His shoulder complained at the motion. "I've had enough crazy shit in the last couple of days to last me for a while"

"Indeed" Dennis replied. He set about pouring himself a cup of tea. He proffered a cup to Chris who shook his head. "If I could speak with you candidly"?

"I don't really get what that means" Chris said. "But sure" He couldn't keep his eyes off the sugar cubes. They were still mightily tempting.

"I'd like to thank you for everything you've done for Leon" Dennis replied, taking a sip from his teacup. "I don't just mean the events at the facility. It's not something you're likely to notice as you haven't known him very long but since you've been around he's changed somewhat. I can assure you that the change has been a positive one. I don't know what it is about you but I have a feeling that the longer you remain in his company, the more likely we are to see the part of him that he's kept hidden" He sighed heavily. "I care about Leon and I only want the best for him. Whatever it is that you are doing, I implore you to continue doing"

"Gee.." Chris scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "I don't really know what to say, I always seem to annoy him...but thanks I guess"

"Indeed" Dennis smiled briefly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get back to the hospital" He stood up. "I suggest you go and get some rest"

Chris nodded and, with a warm handshake, left the office. As he walked back through the alien hallways of the building he couldn't help but feel relieved. He'd known that if he refused to leave when they asked, the government couldn't force him out of the country but he'd felt a little worry at the back of his mind that they might no longer allow him to see Leon or stay at his house. He had no clue why, but it was Leon that was the reason he was thumbing his nose at a free ride home. He was risking the lives of his goldfish, the combined wraths of Jill and his sister and it'd be costing him a couple of hundred bucks on a plane ticket back to America and he had absolutely no idea why.

00000000

A couple of weeks passed and Chris was still no closer to going back to America. He'd spent a lot of time on the phone to Barry, who'd been delighted to hear that he'd secured the funding. He'd also phoned Claire whose worry was soon forgotten as she asked a million and one questions about Leon. She'd had a really annoying, know-it-all tone as he'd spoken about the younger man and their last phone call had ended with a cryptic 'you'll figure it out'. Finally, he'd spoken to Jill who was giving him regular updates on Maverick and Iceman and various lectures about the state of his apartment. He'd then decided that it was probably best to stop making so many international calls as it was Leon's phone bill, not his.

All the while, he'd been making regular visits to the hospital and intitally it seemed that Dennis had been right. Leon appeared to be a new man. He'd been chatty and had almost been friendly on most of the visits. He'd told Chris that the doctors thought he was making great progress and that he'd been doing well in the intensive physical therapy sessions he'd been having for his leg. Chris had enjoyed these visits and found himself wanting to spent more and more time at the hospital. The last couple of visits had been a different story. Leon had seemed more like his old self, cold and distant. It didn't deter Chris as he figured that it was just because his partner was getting bored in hospital.

That night, as he thought about his partner's ever changing personality, he received a call from Leon himself, telling him that he was being discharged the following morning. Chris immediately offered to pick him up but Leon flatly refused, saying that he'd probably get a taxi or ask Dennis. Chris decided there and then that the best thing he could do for his partner was make sure a home-cooked breakfast was waiting for him when he returned. He knew that Leon would appreciate it after weeks of eating hospital crap. The only problem was that he wanted to make something a bit special but his patented beans on toast or fried breakfast weren't going to cut it. There was only one thing for him to do. He picked up the phone and called Claire. After all, one more little international call wasn't going to hurt.

000000000

Leon handed the taxi driver his money and ignored the offer of help to the front door. His wounds had healed well in the last couple of weeks and the physical therapy he'd received meant that he was now comfortable walking with crutches. His stomach wound had healed over and he'd been left with a long, thick scar just to the left of his belly button. The doctors were confident that with a few more weeks of therapy, he'd be walking without any aid at all. It was good news but it wasn't quick enough for Leon. After weeks of being stuck in a hospital bed for hours on end he wanted to get back into the thick of working. He didn't like the idea of sitting around and having to think about whatever the hell was going on with Chris.

At first, he'd looked forward to his partner's numerous visits. Chris had bought him books and clean clothes and had even sneaked in a couple of burgers once or twice. Leon had been grateful for the company of someone who wasn't a medical professional but, as time wore on, he'd found the visits more and more annoying. He hated how comfortable he felt around Chris, how he felt like he could really open up and spill his guts. He began to dread seeing Chris' cheerful face in his doorway. He didn't understand why the older man was still around anyway. He wouldn't be needed for the debriefing that was bound to take place and he was pretty sure that the agency wouldn't be paying him to sit around and not do any work. Whenever Leon had tried to ask him about it, Chris had become defensive and cagey and had quickly changed the subject.

"Welcome home"! A voice bellowed as he opened the front door. Leon sighed heavily and made for the kitchen. Within an instant, Chris was at his side, offering an arm to help him.

"Don't" Leon snapped.

"I bet you're glad to finally be home" Chris replied brightly, pulling out a chair at the kitchen table. There was a big, goofy grin on his face. Leon looked away. It was then that he noticed the kitchen. It looked like a bomb had gone off. The sink was full of dirty dishes. The walls and ceiling near the cooker seemed to be spattered with some sort of batter and there was an underlying burning smell.

"What are you burning this time"? He asked. His tone was a little more acidic than he intended it to be but Chris didn't seem to notice. He was too busy messing around with a frying pan that was on top of the hob.

"It's ok! It's not burnt"! The older man sounded relieved. "I got the recipe from Claire. An old Redfield family recipe! Hope you like pancakes" He started to rummage in the cupboard for some clean plates.

"I'm not really hungry" Leon said. He leant back in his chair and pulled a white paper bag out of the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. He opened it up and pulled out the various boxes of painkillers he'd been supplied with.

"I figured you'd want something decent after eating all that hospital junk" Chris stacked a healthy amount of pancakes on a plate and placed it front of Leon with a flourish. "And I bet you can't take those on an empty stomach" He added, nodding at the painkillers.

"Fine" Leon muttered, picking up his fork. He loaded it with a mouthful of pancake and took a bite. Despite a very slight underlying burning taste, they were pretty good. Chris had drizzled them with some maple syrup and added a couple of rashers of bacon. After another rummage in the cupboard, Chris sat down opposite him, his own plate piled even higher. Leon noted that the older man didn't seem as uncomfortable and awkward as he did. With a sigh, he started eating, slowly and quietly. It was times like this that he wished he had someone close enough to him to share his worries with.

"Penny for them"? Chris suddenly broke the silence through a mouthful of pancake. Leon looked up from his plate, confused. "Penny for your thoughts" Chris clarified. "It's what my sister always says"

"I'm just tired" Leon lied smoothly. "I need to see what's on that USB we retrieved from the facility, do you have it"?

"No" Chris shook his head. "Wesker took it, remember"?

"Of course I remember" Leon snapped. "I used two different USB sticks to make two copies" He sighed irritably. "Always have a back up" He added as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It was in my combats. I assume you brought them home from the hospital. One of the nurses said they'd been put with my dirty clothes and you took those didn't you"?

"Oh, yeah, I did" Chris nodded. He was concerned with how pale and drawn his partner looked. He was beginning to wonder whether Leon had been discharged or whether he'd left the hospital AMA. He watched as the younger man pushed his barely touched plate away and stood up shakily. It was obvious he wasn't going to get any further on the food front. "I'll get it for you"

Leon nodded and slowly shuffled into the lounge area. He settled himself down on the sofa and opened up the laptop that was on the coffee table. Chris fetched the USB stick that was still in the pocket of Leon's combats. He'd brought them back from the hospital and dumped them in the kitchen, wondering whether to wash them or throw them away. Leon wordlessly took the stick and plugged it into the laptop. With a deep sigh, Chris threw himself into the arm chair and tried to enterain himself with a comic book.

"So" He spoke, startling Leon. "What was Wesker planning"? A hard look darkened his features. It was the same look he'd given Wesker back at the facility. It was so unlike his partner's usual cheerful expression that it unnerved Leon somewhat. Chris was trying his hardest to sound off hand and flippant but it wasn't really fooling him.

"It doesn't make for pleasant reading" Leon replied. "From what I can gather from these reports here, he's been collecting various virus samples. I don't know about you, but they're ones that I recognise. The G Virus, T-Virus and one called Veronica"

"The T-Virus was the one responsible for the zombies back in Raccoon" Chris said with a grim expression on his face. "I dealt with Veronica back in Antarctica..." He paused as if he was going to elaborate but then decided against it. "Doesn't surprise me that the sick bastard is going around collecting them"

"It seems like the facility that we destroyed was his own private research lab" Leon continued, reading from the laptop screen. "He had a small staff of thirty doing his bidding" He paled suddenly as he came to the next file in the report. "He's trying to achieve symbiosis"

"What's that when it's at home and eating oatmeal"? Chris asked, baffled.

"Oatmeal? What"? Leon frowned but shook his head. He supposed in Chris' world, it made sense. "He's been doing various experiments to try and get the viruses to work alongside each other. He's picking the best aspects of each one and modifying them to work as one virus" He explained. There was a sick, churning feeling in his stomach that he knew had nothing to do with the pain from his leg. It was a feeling he hadn't felt since that awful night in Raccoon City. He tried to swallow it down as he continued. "It goes on to say that he's recently discovered a new variant called Las Plagas that's being developed by some cult. There's no further info on it than that so I'm guessing that it's his most recent work. He's sent out one of his field agents to recover a sample from the cult but it doesn't say where from. It looks like he was intending to include that within this symbiosis"

"I'm with you right up until you mention that symbi-thingy" Chris replied.

"Fine" Leon sighed. "I can't believe that I'm descending to this level but here goes. You read comic books right?"

"Like you wouldn't believe" Chris answered proudly.

"Well, do you remember the famous Spiderman story line? In the eighties? When Spiderman got the black costume that turned out to be evil? It completely over took him. Then he got rid of it and it attached itself to Eddie Brock? That's symbiosis" Leon explained through gritted teeth.

"Oh" Chris nodded slowly. "That's symbiosis? Well why didn't you just say it was venom"? He grinned. "Since when were you a fan of comics"?

"We're not talking about comics" Leon replied irritably.

"But we just were" Chris pointed out. "You were talking about Spiderman and-"

"Can we just get back to the task at hand"? Leon snapped, motioning to the laptop.

"Whatever he was planning, we've put a stop to it" Chris said firmly. The dark, hardened look crossed his features once more. "I'd hate to think what would've happened if we hadn't blown that place sky high" The look became more intense. "I'm just sorry that I didn't get a chance to put a bullet through his skull"

"What is it with you and him"? Leon didn't usually care to pry into other people's private business but Chris looked so pained and so helpless that he wanted to reach out to him. It was the same alien feeling that he'd felt when Chris had tried to bring him breakfast in bed and he'd carefully disposed of it, not wanting to hurt his feelings. "The way you looked when you saw him. I've never seen you look that way at anyone"

"He was our captain" Chris replied. He was staring straight ahead but obviously not looking at anything, like he was lost in his own past. "He hadn't been with the S.T.A.R.S that long when all the stuff kicked off with the murders. He led us to the Spencer Mansion and then he proceeded to backstab every single one of us and all for his own amusement. People died in the hellhole Leon. My people. My friends and my teammates died the most horrible, brutal deaths because he's a twisted power hungry psycho. He kidnapped my little sister and put her through hell, killing the first man she'd ever really loved. He's a sick bastard and the sooner I can kill him, the sooner the world will be better off" He stood up quickly. "I need a good soak. Mind if I use the hot tub"? He asked quickly, not making eye contact.

"Sure, go ahead" Leon replied. He closed his laptop and watched as Chris stalked out of the room. He'd never met anyone who was brave enough to speak so candidly about a subject so obviously personal and painful. He'd asked and Chris had just told him. There was no facade. It was almost like there was some sort of connection between them. Leon had no idea where it had come from as he'd done his level best to stop it from happening. It terrified him that someone had so easily broken through the barriers he'd purposefully put up but, at the same time, he was glad that Chris hadn't gone back to America. His mind went to and fro, hating and liking the older man at the same time. He hadn't been this mixed up since he'd first realised that he was gay. It scared the hell out of him and he knew that if he didn't do something soon, Chris would hurt him just like Jack had done back when he was just Jack his friend and not Krauser his enemy. He couldn't let Chris in, the risks were too great.

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After that night, Chris noticed yet another marked difference in Leon. Ever time Leon seemed to give him an inch, he'd do a total one-eighty and take back a mile. So, yet again, Leon became quiet and withdrawn, preferring to spent most of his time typing away at his laptop. He worked long into the night, a fixed look of concentration on his face. He seemed to eat only when Chris reminded him and even then, it wasn't a lot. The only time he left the house was to attend his physical therapy sessions which, at his own insistence, were upped to four times a week. He made good progress and, after another three weeks of intensive therapy, went from using crutches to only walking with a slight limp.

Chris decided that the best way to bring the younger man out of his new funk was to take him out somewhere that wasn't the physical therapy gym. It would be hard because Leon was back to barely speaking to him. Chris hoped that if Leon got some fresh air and the chance to relax, then maybe he would lighten up again. The young man's mind was probably caught up with the impending debriefing so a few hours away from it couldn't hurt.

"I thought we could maybe go out today" He said cheerfully as he joined Leon at the breakfast table. Leon was already awake of course, and his laptop was open. He was studying something on the screen very intently. He barely looked up at Chris' words. "I know you've been busy with work and stuff but I figured a few hours off would do you some good. Plus you can exercise your leg a bit more"

He saw Leon's shoulder tense up as if he was biting back an acidic comment or an argument. He wondered if Leon had eaten anything. Juding by the lack of breakfast plates on the table, it didn't seem like he had.

"If I say no, you're going to bug me aren't you"? He asked, pointedly not looking up from the computer screen in front of him. Chris couldn't help but grin. Leon might be acting cold and distant but it didn't mean that he wasn't getting to know him.

"Of course"! He replied. "Any suggestions for where we can go"?

"I know a place" Leon said defeatedly.

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It was a typical Spanish morning, bright and sunny and at just the right temperature so that it was pleasantly warm as opposed to stiflingly hot. The place Leon had suggested was a local marketplace which was in the older part of the city. The walk had been a quiet one and Chris had had to walk significantly slower so as not to leave the younger man behind. Once they arrived at the market, Chris was taken aback. The old, brown buildings reminded him of baked clay. They were clustered close together and unlike the neat rows of streets he was used to back in America, the houses seemed to be arranged higgledy-piggledy around the large paved market square. A large hotch-potch of washing lines criss crossed above their heads, stretching from window to window.

The market stalls were just as uneven as the buildings around them. The sellers had set out their wares on tableclothes of various eye-catching colours including stinging scarlet and bright emerald. Seductive smells drifted through the square from the fruit stalls, an attractive citrus bouquet that made you want to buy whatever was on offer. Each seller was calling out in Spanish, competing with the others for custom. The natives of the town bustled about with purpose, filling string shopping bags. The tourists wandered around aimlessly, awestruck at the riot of sound and colour attacking their senses. At the other end of the market, Chris could see a small pavement cafe with small white tables shaded by yellow and red umbrellas that looked like the Spanish flag. A few people were sitting at the tables, sipping coffees and nibbling iced cakes, happy to watch the busy throng of people.

"Good choice" Chris said, nodding encouragingly. He was more into checking out bars than he was the sights and sounds of foreign countries but even he could see the beauty in the marketplace. Leon didn't say anything and instead set off at a slow pace, strolling easily between the stalls. Chris followed him, stopping every so often to check out the things on sale. Leon continued to walk silently, a moody expression on his face as he barely paid attention to the stalls.

It wasn't long before the midday heat hit them. The tourists quickly bustled off back to their hotels, no doubt looking forward to an afternoon spent by the pool, having quick dips to cool off. The locals continued to go about their business, obviously not bothered and used to the heat. Chris started to sweat in his three quarter length black shorts and green t-shirt that Leon had bought for him. Leon didn't seem to be similarly suffering, although he did go slightly pink in his grey sweatpants and black vest.

"It's getting really hot now" Chris complained as they walked past a stall selling ceramic pots. He was pleased that Leon was out of the house and getting some exercise for his leg but the silence between them was starting to get uncomfortable and boring. Chris yanked his damp t-shirt off and wiped his sweaty torso down before tucking it into the waistband of his shorts. He gave his armpits a quick cursory sniff and judged the smell to be suitably manly but slightly verging on needing a shower. He gave his muscles a quick flex, as he always did when removing his shirt, and grinned smugly when a nearby tourist eyed him up. In return, he offered her a quick wink and a smile. She blushed deeply and looked away.

"What's USAP"? Leon asked in a dull, uninterested tone. Chris stopped paying attention to the tourist and turned to look at his partner. He must've looked baffled because Leon added. "On your arm" It took Chris a little while to clock on, but he realised that Leon was taking about the faded tattoo he had on the top of his right arm.

"It doesn't say USAP" Chris correctedly huffily. If he had a dollar for every person who'd mentioned it over the years, he'd have more than plenty for any number of air fares home. It seemed that the general concenous was that it said 'USAP' but there was no way he was going to admit that. "It says USAF, y'know, as in United States Air Force"? He said proudly, puffing his chest out slightly and yeah, maybe he flexed his arm a little bit too.

"Looks like it says USAP" Leon responded vaguely, looking away at once.

"Yeah well" Chris shrugged off the embarrassment. "The guy who did it had a bit of a shaky hand. It's hard to do a decent tattoo in the middle of a warzone in a fighter jet" He boasted. He liked to tell that story but obviously, that wasn't the truth behind his ink. He'd barely been in the Air Force a month when he'd managed to sneak some beers into the barracks one night and him and a couple of the other recruits decided it'd be a good idea to cement their new friendship by getting tattoos. One of the guys had piped up that he was practically a professional tattooist and could do it easily with some ink and a needle. They'd used a needle from their issue sewing kit and Chris had swiped a bottle of ink from one of the other recruits. It had been him that'd been the first to roll up his sleeve.

He remembered sinking another beer or two before he finally got the courage to sit on the bunk and let the guy get to work. It was his first tattoo so he hadn't quite realised how painful the process was going to be. But, being the manly man that he was, he'd sucked it up and knew that the end result would totally be worth it. His 'tattooist' friend however, not only had the worst handwriting, he also didn't have a very steady hand. The consequences of this was that the 'F' had ended up looking more like a 'P' and the whole tattoo gradually sloped downwards. There was no way he was going to ever tell anyone the real story or give them any inkling that he was unhappy with the end result. Instead, he decided the best thing to do would be to go with a quick change of subject.

"I'm thirsty" He said quickly. "Let's go get a drink at that cafe"

Without waiting for a response from his moody partner, Chris hurried off in the direction of the pavement cafe. Leon sighed deeply as he watched the older man walk off. Spending time with Chris was beginning to be something of a trial. He'd barely slept as he'd thought the situation through. The real reason that he'd been pleased that Chris had stayed was obvious and he felt stupid at not seeing it sooner. God how he wanted to hate Chris. He wanted to hate the fact that Dennis had forced a partner on him and he wanted to hate the fact that he didn't agree with anything Chris stood for. The one thing he couldn't deny, as much as he'd tried, was that Chris was very good looking. He had a great body that he'd obviously worked hard for and his deep brown eyes were warm and inviting. His hair looked soft and it would be easy to imagine tugging on it in the heat of passion. It didn't take much of an imagination to picture kissing those lips, touching that body and having long sex sessions. He couldn't fight the fact that he was attracted to Chris nor could he fight the fact that he respected him. He'd had other partners that he'd been attracted to but he'd always managed to cancel out any attraction by acting the jerk. In his previous experience, they'd either act the jerk back or give up on him entirely. Chris hadn't done either of these things. He'd been annoyingly stubborn, taking Leon's mood swings and tempers with an irritating level of understanding.

He had taken every single one of his carefully chosen insults on the chin and refused to go away. It was a frustrating situation. Leon could've cursed that night when he'd gotten tipsy and spilled his guts about Raccoon City and that business with Sherry. By doing that, he'd let Chris in and it had made it all that much harder to keep pushing him away. He'd thought that he'd managed it but Chris just kept coming back for more. When they'd been separated in the facility, his protocol dictated that he should aquire the samples and get the hell out but he'd disregarded that and risked his life to save Chris, even taking down a trio of zombies with a damn pen. It wasn't like him to be so...damn caring. What the hell had Chris done to him?

He limped over to one of the cafe tables and sat down whilst Chris ordered them some drinks. Leon figured he needed the Spanish practice. He leant back in the slightly uncomfortable white plastic chair and let out a heavy sigh. He needed to shut off his brain from all the confusing thoughts. There was a guy sat at the table across for him, sipping a cup of coffee and just watching the world go by. He was tall and lean with an athletic body and he was dressed casually yet smartly in a pair of black trousers and a short sleeved maroon shirt, open to the chest. His hair was long and jet black, hanging in loose waves, framing his perfectly tanned face. He looked around suddenly, his chocolate brown eyes locking on to him. Usually Leon would look away but there was something about this man that made it impossible. He disregarded his usual rule of ignoring all locals and strangers and smiled at him. It was a well practised smile, one that the 'old him' used in many a gay bar back in America. It worked then and it looked like it still did. The man stood up and moved over to him, smiling warmly.

"Hola" He greeted. "Me llamo Marco, y tu"? He asked in a deep, rolling voice that, if he let it, would make Leon melt.

"Leon" He replied as Marco helped himself to the empty seat beside him. "Se habla ingles"?

"Of course" Marco said in his divine Spanish accent. "I must say, your command of Spanish is very good"

It was a typical pick up line, worthy of little to no merit. After all, Leon had only said the one phrase and he wasn't entirely sure whether it was even gramatically correct. He had so little to do with anyone outside of his work that he didn't really need to speak Spanish much. Usually, he would've given Marco the brush off for his cheesy chat up line but this time he figured, what the hell? The guy was interested and it meant that he didn't have to think about his current situation with Chris.

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Chris came out of the cafe, trying his best to balance two cups of coffee. After afew failed attempts at Spanish, the owner of the cafe had fetched an english speaking staff member. He scanned the tables for Leon and spotted him a short distance away, deep in conversation with a long haired man that he'd never seen before. Chris narrowed his eyes at the tanned stranger. Who the hell was he and how the hell had he managed to get Leon talking so animatedly? He'd never seen the younger man look so alive. Chris was about to march over there and demand to know what was going on but Leon and the man stood up and started to walk away. He was pretty certain that Leon was exaggerating his limp and he watched in irritation as the man wrapped an arm around his partner's waist to support him. What annoyed him even more was the fact that Leon didn't bat him away.

Chris sat back in the bubbling hot tub, a glass of Leon's expensive brandy in his hand. After he'd watched Leon walk off with that strange man, he'd downed his coffee and marched straight back to the house. He didn't feel like being out and about anymore. He wasn't even sure why he gave a damn. After all, Leon was his own man and could go off with whoever the hell he wanted to. Chris took a sip from his glass, shuddering as the liquid hit the back of his throat. He guessed the thing that really ticked him off about the whole situation was how easily some random guy had managed to get Leon to be so animated all of a sudden. It had taken all of five minutes for the stranger to get Leon chatting to him with a big smile on his face. He'd lived with him for over two months and had never once seen Leon so happy and chatty, despite how hard he'd tried. He moodily downed his glass and poured himself a fresh one from the bottle he'd put by the side of the hot tub. After everything he'd done for Leon, it felt like a massive smack in the face. It really pissed him off and he knew that if he thought about it too much, he'd jump on the first plane back to America. It was plainly obvious that Leon didn't need him anymore, if he ever even did.

There was a loud bang and Chris dropped the glass into the depths of the hot tub. He grabbed the nearest towel and quickly wrapped it around his waist as he climbed out. He rushed back into the house dripping wet and discovered that the source of the noise must've been the front door slamming. Leon was leant against it, looking worse for wear, and being support by a strange man. He wasn't the long haired stranger from the pavement cafe. He was still tall, still tanned, but this time he had short red hair and muscles that could almost rival Chris'. Each of his meaty arms were a riot of colour from the various tattoos that snaked up and down them. He was dressed in tight black jeans and a matching vest and seemed to be drunk too.

"Who the fuck are you"? He demanded, clamping his arms across his chest. He was aware that he probably looked a little ridiculous in the towel but at this point, he didn't care. The man certainly didn't seem at all intimated. He looked up and down at Chris and gave him a flirty wink. Chris glared back.

"This is...Marco" Leon slurred, obviously struggling to remember the man's name. He didn't look at Chris and instead focussed his attentions on the stranger. He was leaning heavily against him, one hand stroking his flat, chisled stomach, the other dipping into the back of the man's jeans.

"I'm Tony" The man corrected with a strong Alabama twang that momentarily reminded Chris of his old S.T.A.R.S buddy Forrest Speyer.

"Marco...Tony...whatever"! Leon attempted a shrug. "Bedroom's upstairs..." He added, trying to steer Tony towards the stairs. Tony smiled smugly and allowed himself to be led.

"Hey, whatever you say Baby" He gave Leon a sloppy kiss before turning round and winking at Chris once more.

With very carefully controlled rage, Chris watched them climb the stairs before Leon's bedroom door slammed shut. Every part of him wanted to march up those stairs, barge into the bedroom and forcibly remove Tony from the house, perhaps giving him a few good punches in an attempt to beat the smugness out of him. He knew however, that Leon definitely wouldn't thank him for doing something like that. Even if Chris pointed out that this Tony guy was a total sleazy asshole. He couldn't stand the way that Tony had been looking at Leon. He wondered if the younger man was even really aware of what he was doing. He'd seemed pretty drunk. As much as it annoyed him, Chris knew that he was in no position to storm up there and stop what was probably about to happen. Muttering select curses under his breath, he turned on his heel and marched back to the hot tub. He decided that what he needed right now was a long soak amongst the bubbles and to drink as much of the brandy as he could stomach. He hoped that by the time he collapsed into bed, the two of them would be finished.

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Leon didn't surface from his bedroom until well after noon the next day. Chris knew that Tony wouldn't be with him as he'd heard him leave some time during the early hours. Chris had gotten pretty drunk himself as was using coffee to nurse him through his hangover. He frowned as he watched Leon limp to the fridge and grab himself a carton of juice. He didn't understand his partner's latest change in personality. The whole man-eating party boy image didn't really seem to fit Leon. It had been his first thought when he'd woken up and he'd quickly come to the conclusion that there was no way in hell he was ever going to work Leon out on his own. This new change was a worrying one. If Leon was randomly picking up and sleeping with men then it could end very badly. Before he'd come down to the kitchen, Chris had sent a furtive text message to Dennis and Dennis had replied straight away, agreeing to meet him in the pavement cafe.

"Don't forget you have physical therapy in an hour" He said as Leon drained the contents of the juice carton before slumping into one of the chairs. His skin was pale and greasy looking and his eyes were bloodshot with dark circles under them. He looked a far cry from the polished agent that Chris was used to.

"How could I forget"? He muttered. Chris had left a bottle of aspirin out on the table. Leon grabbed it and helped himself to a couple, dry swallowing them before he spoke again. "Any breakfast"?

"No" Chris shook his head and stood up. "I'm going out actually" He grabbed his jacket and slammed out of the house thinking that the sooner he got to the bottom of Leon's strange behaviour, the better.

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Chris stared at the cup of coffee in front of him. He was confused. He'd never seen anything like it before. There was no sign of the familiar brown liquid that he thought consitituted a decent cup of java. Instead he had a cup full of white foam with some strange brown sprinkles of it. He'd arrived at the pavement cafe to find that Dennis was already there and had ordered on his behalf. That was great and all but he didn't have the remotest clue what he'd ordered. Dennis smiled at him as he sat down. He seemed to have one of the weird cups of froth too. He was dressed in his casual best and despite the smile, he looked as worried as Chris currently felt.

"Thanks for meeting me" Chris said as he stirred his 'coffee' disconsolately. The spoon clinked against the side of the ceramic cup and it reminded him of how he used to drive his fellow S.T.A.R.S crazy by stirring his cups of coffee for ridiculous lengths of time. He couldn't help but smile at the memory. It had always been worth it to catch the look of annoyance on Jill and Brad's faces and the famous vein on Barry's forehead put in an appearance.

"Not a problem" Dennis replied smoothly. "I can understand your concern" He took a quick sip from his cup and wiped the froth from his upper lip. "From what you told me, it seems like Leon isn't acting like himself at all"

"Yeah..." Chris nodded. "I mean...I guess he's acting normal with me..." Chris happy little reminise was over and now he was back in the present. "He's never been particularly friendly with me and he's always been the first to put me down but then after the stuff at the facility while he was still at the hospital he started to actually talk to me like friend. Then he came home and...I don't know...now it's like he'll barely speak to me. Then there's the stuff with the random guys I told you about in my text"

"Yes. That isn't like Leon at all" Dennis replied thoughtfully. "I can understand why you'd be so concerned. What concerns me the most is that this isn't the first time something like this has happened" He sighed as he seemed to recall the previous time in question.

"I just don't know whether I'm blowing this whole thing up into something it's not" Chris shrugged. His shoulder was on the mend now so the movement barely hurt. He figured the large amount of hot tub time he'd been enjoying had helped it. "I'm just confused is all. I'm not used to party boy Leon" He added. He was lost for a way to properly explain his mixed feelings and he didn't want to sound like a whining child.

"I can see why you would be so confused considering everything that's been going on. As you know, I'm aware that you read Leon's file and therefore you know the history between himself and a certain Jack Krauser-"

"Krauser"! Chris explained. "Shit! Why didn't I think of that"! He mentally cursed. "Krauser was at the facility"!

"He was"? Dennis raised an eyebrow. "Well then. That almost certainly explains matters. You see, when Leon first arrived in this country, the situation with Krauser was, understandably, still at the forefront of his mind. He was extremely stressed but wouldn't hear of entering into any sort of therapy despite my protestations at the time. He insisted that he deal with it in his own way and in his own time. Now whereas some people turn to drugs and others turn to illicit substances, some people turn to promiscuous behaviour. Leon very much fitted into the latter. I suppose after everything Jack Krauser put him through, he needed to feel good about himself again and attracting and sleeping with random men seemed to be, for him at least, the way to do that. He stopped eventually, in his own time, although I will admit it the whole situation caused me a great deal of worry as I can see it's doing to you now"

"I guess that makes sense" Chris mused. He was trying to work his way up to trying the mysterious foam. "I suppose seeing Krauser again made it all come back"

"Stress does funny things to people" Dennis continued. "You can try to get Leon to talk. God knows I've tried but, as I'm sure you're fully aware, getting Leon to talk is no mean feat. I do however, believe you have more chance than most. As I said before, there seems to be a connection between the two of you. Failing that, my advice would be to ride it out. I can't be much more help I'm afraid although should you need someone to talk to, I certainly don't have any issue with meeting up again"

"Thanks Dennis" Chris replied. What Dennis said made sense and he had the feeling that he would be forced into the riding it out option as opposed to the talking it out one. Leon was a total closed book and if he didn't want you to find something out, then there was no way in hell you would. Not by conventional means anyway. Dennis shook his hand and took his leave, leaving Chris to brood over his cup of foam.

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Chris, eager to avoid a confrontation with Leon, spent the rest of his afternoon wandering around the market. He'd finally gotten his replacement bank card sent out but he didn't really feel like shopping. Eventually, his hunger provided a distraction and he found an American themed bar that sold fairly decent hot dogs. He'd devoured a large chilli cheese creation and sunk a couple of beers before finally sloping back to the house. His meeting with Dennis had given him plenty to think about and he hated the idea of having to just sit back and watch Leon throw himself into potentially dangerous situations until he burnt out. From what he'd seen from the likes of Tony, the guys Leon was picking up were far from ideal. He hadn't said anything to the younger man, but he'd seen the bruises on Leon's arms and knew that Tony hadn't been gentle. He felt strangely close to Leon and was beginning to consider him a good friend, feeling as much for him as he felt for Barry or Claire's boyfriend Kevin Ryman. He certainly didn't want to see him getting hurt by some meathead out for a quick fuck. On the walk back to the house he decided that he was going to be proactive and go for the talking option. It was unlikely that he was going to get anywhere but at least he'd know that he tried.

He could understand perfectly that Leon was stressed. He'd been there himself. Not long after the events of the Spencer Mansion and Antarctica, he'd hit rock bottom. Exhausted from the constant worrying over his loved ones and the overhanging threat of Umbrella and Wesker, he'd hit the bars hard and spent most of his days and nights in a drunken stupor. He'd woken up one day to find Barry and Kevin standing over him, staging what they called an intervention. They'd forced him to take a shower and get a shave and then they'd sat him down and made him see what he'd been doing to himself and the people around him. Thanks to them, he'd gotten himself back on track, hit the gym, and gained himself a body he could be proud of.

He rehersed in his head exactly how he was going to talk to Leon and what he'd say. As he reached the front door, he perfected it and, feeling confident, he let himself in. He almost walked into Leon who seemed to be on his way out. He was dressed in tight black jeans, black boots and was wearing a black leather jacket over a black t-shirt. He looked like he was ready to hit the bars and nightclubs.

"Where are you going"? Chris demanded as Leon pushed past him. Never before did he ever think he'd sound so much like Jill.

"Out" Leon responded, finally succeeding in pushing past him. He stalked down the path as best as he could, given his limp, and disappeared out of sight. His sullen tone reminded Chris of when Claire had hit her teenage years and started acting out. It was kind of funny that it was coming from a grown man instead of a teenage girl but Chris couldn't take too much delight in the humour. Not only had he smelt the aftershave on his partner, he'd smelt the alcohol too. He glanced in the direction of the kitchen and the vodka bottle left on the table confirmed his fears. Without really thinking about it and totally forgetting his plan, Chris turned on his heel and went to follow his partner.

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"Back off. Not interested" Chris said for what felt like the hundreth time that night. He'd managed to follow Leon all the way into town without the younger man detecting him and, judging by the amount of guys he'd been fighting off, his partner had led him to a gay bar. He'd been forced to watch as Leon made a beeline for the bar, drunk a few shots of some blue coloured drink before hitting the dance floor and, for want of a nicer way of putting it, had started pressing himself up against any guy who seemed remotely interested. Not wanting to approach him and create a scene, Chris kept a safe distance, sipping a beer from a darkened corner. He'd had more than a few offers himself and even though he wasn't in the least bit interested, it was kind of nice to know that he had options.

He was fighting the urge to go up to Leon and drag him home but he knew that wouldn't be appreciated. He decided the best course of action would be to watch the younger man from a distance and step in should he get himself into trouble. It was hard to watch as Leon danced with another greasy looking stranger. The man's hands were all over Leon's body, carressing his rear and kissing him sloppily, shoving his tongue down Leon's throat. He whispered something into Leon's ear and stepped back, his hand lingering across Leon's butt cheeks before heading off in the direction of the toilets. Leon continued to dance alone as his dancing partner made his way across the dance floor. Chris continued to watch as the guy stopped at the toilet door to talk to someone else. What followed was very swift and smooth but Chris still caught it. Leon's dancing partner had just been given a small bag of white tablets. It looked as if Chris was going to have to do his stepping in.

He dumped his beer on the nearby bar top and checked that Leon wasn't watching the toilet door. When he was sure the coast was clear, Chris skirted around the dance floor and burst into the toilets. Leon's 'friend' was standing by the urinals bragging to another guy who was dressed only in white jeans. Judging by their accents, they both seemed to be British.

"I've scored out there mate" Leon's guy was saying as he lent against the filthy tiled wall. He had the look of someone who was immensely pleased with himself. White Jeans nodded emphatically, am eager grin spreading across his greasy features.

"Yeah. You'll have to let me have a go when you're done" He replied with the tone of someone unable to control their anticipation. "I saw him. He's a right hot piece of ass"

"Sure mate" came the sleazy reply. "Blondie's up for anything! You should feel how tight his arse cheeks are! Can't wait to get inside that. I reckon I could get him to take both of us on" He surreptiously showed White Jeans the bag containing the tablets. "Once he pops one of these babies he's not going to be in a position to argue"!

Upon those words, Chris moved like lightning. They hadn't noticed him enter the room but they were sure going to feel his presence now. He might be big and muscular but that didn't mean he was at all slow. Before the sleaze ball knew what was going on Chris had him up against the wall.

"That's my boyfriend you're talking about" He snarled into the scared man's face. White Jeans fled immediately, suddenly losing interest in anything that his friend was doing. Funny that.

"Listen mate" Sleaze Ball protested. "I can't help it if your boyfriend acts like a man whore" He spat into Chris' face. He was completely terrified but trying to do his best not to show it.

"I really wouldn't argue with me" Chris replied coolly. The guy was obviously a total loser and he made the perfect conduit for his anger. "I'd get the fuck out of here and pretend that you've never even been here tonight. I'd forget all about my boyfriend and how he's way out of your league and as for these-" He snatched the bag out of the man's pocket. "Let's flush these shall we"? He yanked the man away from the wall and pushed him into one of the cubicles. He forced Sleaze Ball to watch as he emptied the bag into the toilet bowl before flushing. He flung the empty bag onto the floor and looked into the toilet bowl. "Y'know" He gripped the back of Sleaze Ball's neck, squeezing it hard. "I'm not sure they're all gone. Why don't you have a look for me"? He forced the other man's head into the toilet bowl and flushed once more before finally releasing him. Sleaze Ball came back up, his head drenched. He muttered something that was probably an insult before scuttling out of the toilets. Chris followed close behind and watched as he made his way straight out of the bar. He saw Leon watch the guy leave, a look of confusion on his face. It took him less than five minutes before he was dancing with the next guy. Chris went back to the bar and ordered himself another beer. It looked like it was going to be a long night.

0000000

Leon opened his eyes. His head was pounding and his mouth was dry. He sat up as quickly as he dared, realising that he had no idea where he was. The room was tiny and painted with a horrible magnolia colour that had discoloured with age. The bed was made from cheap pine and the sheets looked and smelt as if they'd never seen the inside of a washing machine. With quickly rising horror, he lifted the sheet to see that he was totally naked. There was a piggish snoring noise next to him. Leon looked to his right and saw the naked body of a man he didn't know. The stranger had his back to him and was, thankfully, still asleep. He had a layer of wiry black hair starting at the nape of his neck and ending just above his butt crack. Leon felt his stomach turn and was sure that it wasn't just because of his hangover.

He quickly hauled himself out of bed, his leg complaining at the sudden movement. He hadn't been on time with his pain medication for a couple of days and he was really beginning to feel it. He limped around the room awkwardly, gathering together his clothes and trying to be as quiet as possible as he dressed. He felt dirty and sweaty and in need of a good wash but decided he didn't want to risk waking the stranger. He hurried out of the room as quickly as he could and made his escape, closing the door behind him.

Luckily, he had an idea of where he was from his surroundings, and he wasn't too far away from home. He was in the other side of town, the less desirable part where tourists all seemed to know to stay away from. He had no idea what time it was but, judging by the position of the sun in the sky and how hot it was, he guessed it was somewhere around noon. As he walked along the streets, the missing fragments of the previous night started to form a picture in his mind. He'd gone to one of the local gay bars and picked up some guy there who he'd been dancing with before the guy mysteriously disappeared. After that, he'd kissed another couple of guys and messed around with someone in the toilets before finally heading into the night with some Spanish guy whose name he was certain he'd never known. He had vague memories of the sex but it hadn't been anything mindblowing. But then, he realised, neither had the sex with Marco and Tony. If he really thought about it, he hadn't enjoyed any of his recent liasions. All he'd done was lay back and taken whatever it was they'd given.

But why was that? It wasn't as if he hated sex. He'd always considered himself to be a very sexual being and enjoyed it in a number of locations and positions so why was it all so different now?

'I know why' a teasing voice suddenly sing-songed in his head. 'It's because none of them were Chris' Leon shook his head violently, ignoring the pain it caused, in an attempt to shut the voice up. That was hardly likely to be the reason why. He wasn't stupid. He knew that he couldn't have Chris. Not that he wanted Chris anyway. No, he told himself, it had to go deeper than that, back to a time before Chris Redfield entered his life like a hurricane, destroying everything he thought to be true.

So he forced himself to think back. He'd had a couple of relationships after the Raccoon City incident whilst he'd been taking care of Sherry but they hadn't lasted very long. Then he'd been pressed into government service and there'd been no time for any sort of relationship except for the odd casual hook up whilst he'd been on leave. After his training, there'd been the whole mess with Krauser and his redeployment to Spain. He'd slept with Dennis and then proceeded to tour the gay bars, picking up random guys and taking them back to the house for one wild, uncomplicated night. He'd stopped eventually, realising how self destructive he was being and had thrown himself into his work. He'd convinced himself that he didn't need anyone but himself and anyone who did enter his life would no doubt hurt him in some way. It had been easy to portray himself as the cold, unfeeling jerk who only needed to rely on himself. It was better that way, he told himself, if he only had himself to rely on then he wouldn't have to worry about being stung so badly again.

The past two months with Chris had been something of a revelation and it had thrown everything he'd ever thought about other people into question. So, instead of going down that complicated road, he'd taken the easy way out. If he spent his nights in a haze of alcohol and sex then he didn't need to think about any of that stuff. He knew deep down he was being self destructive all over again but he'd somehow managed to convince himself that it was because he'd nearly died in the facility and life was too short to waste.

'Only, we know that's bullshit don't we'? The voice piped up once more. 'It's because you can't have Chris'

But he didn't want Chris did he? It wasn't that. It absolutely wasn't. He pushed the voice aside and thought more about his disasterous track record with men. He'd been very young when he'd realised that he was gay. In fact, he'd barely been eighteen years old. Surely that wasn't old enough for him to make an informed decision was it? What the hell did he know at eighteen? He'd barely had any experience of the real world. He'd never been on a date before then, let alone slept with a woman. How did he even know for sure unless he tried? Just because he hadn't found a woman attractive didn't mean anything. He had extremely high standards. It probably meant that he just hadn't found the right woman yet.

'You're crazy' The voice told him. 'You know you're gay. You just can't face up to the fact that you care about somebody that isn't yourself'

But he didn't want to hear it. The more he thought about his new theory, the more it seemed to make sense. Maybe he'd gotten it all wrong from the beginning. Maybe he wasn't gay at all.

"Dennis called" was all Chris had to say when Leon finally made it home. The older man was sitting at the kitchen table, digging in to a fried breakfast. Leon's hangover screamed out for some of the greasy goodness too but he knew his stomach would ultimately reject it. He hurriedly poured himself a glass of water and drunk it down greedily, hoping to quench his horrible thirst. "He wants to know when you're gonna sort the debriefing" Chris continued, cutting into a sausage. He didn't sound annoyed at receiving no reply, just more weary. Leon flinched. With everything that had been going on inside his own head, he'd forgotten that he was still putting the jerk act on with Chris. The older man certainly didn't deserve it, especially after he'd saved his life. Leon supposed, given his new decision regarding his sexuality, he didn't need to continue to push Chris away. It wasn't really working anyway.

"I suppose I should give him a call" He replied, filling the glass back up with more water. He downed that one too. "Thanks by the way" He added. "I noticed you've done the washing up and tidied the kitchen" He nodded towards the empty sink and gleaming work surfaces.

"Yeah well" Chris shrugged, not looking up from his breakfast. "It needed doing didn't it?"

He swallowed a mouthful of bacon before finally looking up, regarding Leon with a slightly confused expression. "Are you feeling alright"?

"Of course I am" Leon lied. "Why'd you ask"?

"Well you're speaking to me for one thing" Chris answered simply. Leon couldn't help but wince at that.

"Maybe I've realised how grateful I am" He said, struggling to find the right words. "For saving my life back at that hell-hole. I said I didn't need a partner and you proved me wrong" He shrugged like the whole thing was no big deal.

"Well this is getting pretty weird" Chris replied, half jokingly, half serious. "Let me see if I've got this one straight. You hate me. Then for whatever reason you decide you're alright with me. Then I read your file and you hate me again. Then I save your life and we're good. Then after a while you get to thinking that maybe you should hate me again and now all of a sudden you're acting like a normal guy. I mean, stop me if I'm wrong here-"

"Look" Leon sighed. What was it about this guy that made him feel so bad? "I'm really sorry for the way I've been acting towards you" He said sincerely.

"No, no, it's fine" Chris smiled. Yet again he was faced with another weird turn in Leon's behaviour. All it did was help cement what he'd been thinking since the previous night. He'd borrowed Leon's laptop and done some research. It all fit. The mood swings, the risk taking, the self destructive behavour. Although Leon had never allowed himself to be officially diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Chris was pretty certain that the sudden return of Krauser had brought it all back to surface again. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to broach the subject with the younger man but he was certainly working on it. "I like Nice Guy Leon. He's a guy I can really get on board with"

"Well then maybe you'd like to come for a drink with me tonight"? Leon heard himself asking casually. It had been so long since he'd allowed himself to have a proper friend that he'd almost forgotten how to do it. A drink sounded good though. He had a feeling that if he allowed him to be, Chris could be pretty fun to hang out with.

"Sounds good to me" Chris grinned.

0000000

"Back off. Not interested" Chris grunted. He was sitting at the bar, his third beer in his hand, getting pretty pissed off at turning people down. The only difference this time was that it wasn't a bunch of guys. In fact, he'd just turned down a particularly beautiful woman that, given different circumstances, he would've been more than happy to dance with. She made a huffy noise and strutted away, swinging her glorious mane of deep brown hair as she went. Chris shook his head. What the hell was his problem? Normally he'd be in his element, surrounded by beautiful women who seemed interested. He looked across at this dancefloor. His problem was currently dirty dancing with some elegant looking young woman with a thick crop of short black hair. Her pale, creamy skin stood out amongst the varying tans and her perfect body was squeezed into a tight red dress, split to the sides to show her shapely calves.

Chris had been pleased when Leon had invited him for the drink. After his apology it seemed that they'd started building bridges which would make it a whole lot easier for him to confront the younger man regarding his PTSD theory. It was beginning to look however, like the whole apology thing had been yet another twist in Leon's weird behaviour. He slammed his beer bottle down on the bar top as Leon pulled the woman in for a kiss. It wasn't the sort of kiss that Chris would give his sister. It was the sort of kiss that he used to give to Jill when they'd first got together. He didn't understand it. Wasn't Leon supposed to be gay? Hadn't he said so himself? It was in his personnel file. Over the past few days he'd been forced to watch as Leon picked up loser after loser, all of whom were men. He wasn't well versed in gay behaviour but he was pretty sure that gay guys didn't go around feeling up women. Yet there Leon was, right in front him, cavorting on the dance floor with some bar floozy he'd met barely ten minutes ago. He should've suspected something when Leon had suggested going to a straight bar. He figured it was the younger man's way of making him feel more comfortable. Apparently not.

He picked at the label on his beer bottle, wondering if he'd ever been this hard to manage in his darkest days. He didn't know how much more of the strangeness he could take. It was getting harder and harder to guess Leon's next move and though Chris considered him a friend, he was beginning to wonder whether he even wanted to anymore. He'd always had a firm belief that nobody was beyond help but it was beginning to look like Leon was proving him wrong. He couldn't see his PTSD theory going very far. If anything, it might make things worse. As much as he hated to admit it, it looked as though Dennis was right and that he was just going to have to ride this whole weird episode out until it reached some sort of conclusion.

"Chris"! Leon was suddenly at his side. The woman was there too, her arm wrapped possessiively around Leon's waist. "I'm heading back home" Leon continued to yell in his ear over the acoustic guitar music that was coming from the quartet in the corner. He nodded towards the woman who smiled at Chris sexily. Personally, it was a little too smarmy and predatorial for Chris' liking.

"Great" Chris replied, trying his best to nod enthusiastically and not let his anger show. Leon obviously didn't pick up on any of the unhappiness because moments later, he'd disappeared with his new friend in tow. Chris sighed deeply and ordered himself another beer. He had some thinking to do.

0000000

Leon knew what a terrible mistake he'd made as soon as he'd arrived back at the house. The woman that he'd met at the bar, Ada Wong, wasn't exactly backwards in coming forwards. She'd practically dragged him up the bedroom and within seconds had shed her red dress and was tugging insistently at his belt. He supposed that some men would find that sort of powerful woman a turn on but he certainly didn't. She finally managed to free his soft cock and pushed him up against the wall, taking him into her mouth in a concentrated effort to get him hard. Leon couldn't believe how incredibly stupid he'd been earlier that morning. Here, in front of him, was a beautiful woman sucking on his cock and he didn't give a damn. There was no doubt about it now. He was most definitely gay. He closed his eyes and tried his best to think of something sexy to get him hard. Unsurprisingly, all of his thoughts featured men. Leon let out a moan as one particular man suddenly came into his mind's eye. It wasn't this Wong woman sucking him off. No, it was Chris. Those talented lips and delightfully wet tongue belonged to Chris. Leon could feel his cock responding in earnest. The oral ministrations continued for a few minutes before finally stopping. Leon kept his eyes closed as he felt hot breath on his face. He was waiting for Chris to give him the next command. To take this to the next level and boy was he ready for it.

"Fuck me..." but the voice was all wrong. It was too high to be Chris. Too female. It was Ada.

"No" Leon opened his eyes and barely had the time to take in her expression as he yanked his pants back up and bolted for the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He'd never felt so uncomfortable in his life. That was supposed to be Chris in there! Not some slut he'd picked up at some bar. He couldn't believe that he'd made such a massive mistake. He should've listened to the voice all along. It was right. It was right. It was right. It was Chris that he wanted. Chris Redfield, who cared about him enough to stick around whilst he acted like the biggest jerk on the planet. Chris Redfield who'd saved his life. He leant heavily against the sink, unable to face his own reflection in the mirror that hung above it. He ran his hands through his hair and tried to calm his ragged breathing. His mind kept teasing him with flashes of Krauser. He tried to tell himself that Chris wasn't like that. That Chris could never be like that but it wasn't working. He was going back. It was happening all over again.

"_Nice work out there Comrade" Jack Krauser clapped Leon hard on the back, a good natured grin spreading across his scarred face. The two of them were holed up in a makeshift camp somewhere in the depths of the Brazilian rainforest. They were getting closer, hot on Javier Hidalgo's tail and with luck would be back at the barracks within a couple of days. _

"_Bet you were worried I'd drop the ball huh"? Leon teased. Jack leant back on his elbows, staring up at the night sky above. Leon had been working alongside him since they'd turned up at the training grounds together a couple of years ago. Jack was ex-Army and thus highly respected within the Agency. He was the star of the barracks, proficent with any fire arm and a demon at hand to hand combat. Leon was grateful that Jack had taken him under his wing and, together, they'd made a formidible team and it hadn't taken long for the higher-ups to notice. They'd been put together for every important mission since then and slowly but surely they'd gotten to know each other well and become firm friends. Leon had told Jack all about the Raccoon City incident and how, up until recently, he'd been the sole guardian of Sherry. Jack had been understanding and sympathetic when Leon had told him how much he'd grown to care for her and he didn't mock when he explained that one day, he'd like to become her permenant legal guardian. Jack had even suggested that Leon start writing to Sherry and he'd been the one who was there when every single one of the letters came back to the barracks with 'Return to sender' stamped on them in big red letters. _

_In turn, Jack had opened up too. He'd detailed his harsh upbringing with his alcoholic father and his overly religious mother and how he'd joined the Army as soon as he could. He'd talked openly about his various tours of duty in some of the most wartorn areas of the world. Leon had been there to listen as Jack had talked about the horrors he'd seen on the front lines. He'd spoken of terrible injuries, lost of his fellow soldiers and had done so with a brutal honesty that Leon had respected. The more time they'd spent together, and the more they'd talked about their pasts, the more Leon had become entranced with Jack. The older man was the strong protector, the brave warrior with a strong sense of right and wrong, the one all the other recruits looked up to, hoping one day to be just like him. Leon caught himself watching Jack as he sparred or as he stripped off to take a shower. His attraction grew and grew until he knew he would have to do something about it. Jack had never mentioned a wife or a girlfriend and sometimes, Leon was convinced he'd returned his secret smiles. They'd have to keep any sort of relationship low key, but Leon hoped that Jack felt the same way. _

"_Drop the ball"? Jack laughed, his deep rumbling laugh. "I'm surprised that you even know what one of those is! I've seen you on the sports field Kid" He added with a snort. Leon smiled but he didn't reply. He was too busy thinking. He'd told himself on the day that he and Jack learned of their deployment to Brazil that he was going to tell Jack about his feelings before they returned to America. He knew that it was a potentially risky move, telling him in the middle of an important mission. His training had taught him the importance of being focussed on the task at hand, that personal feelings and opinions needed to be left back at the barracks. That made sense but they couldn't be expected to be robots, switching emotions on and off. Half of the stuff he'd learnt about Jack came from lulls in missions, when they'd had nothing to do but talk. Couple that with the fact that there always seemed to be someone walking in on your conversations back at the barracks, Brazil seemed to be the perfect opportunity. He knew Jack enough to know that it wouldn't be wise to just blurt 'by the way Jack, I really want to fuck you'. He'd be running the risk of creating an atmosphere if Jack rejected him. He was smarter than that. If he was going to approach this logically, the best thing for him to do would be admit to Jack that he was gay. It was something that he wanted to get off his chest anyway and he could use that as a gauge for how Jack might respond to his other confession. He figured at the very least, Jack would understanding. He'd been great with all that weird shit he'd told him about Raccoon so something as inconsequential as Leon being gay would be water off a duck's back. _

"_Don't think too hard Kid, you'll hurt yourself" Jack's voice cut into Leon's thoughts, bringing him out of his reverie and back into the makeshift jungle camp with the older man. He was in the middle of polishing his combat knife with the special cloth he kept in one of his belt packs. _

"_I've got something to tell you" Leon replied, trying to keep his voice sound casual even though his heart was hammering in his chest. "I know it won't matter or anything but it's just one of those things I wanna get off my chest" He shrugged and decided to dive right in. "I'm gay" He said it clearly, looking down at his muddy combat boots as he spoke. The silence that followed was tense and hours seemed to pass before Jack finally spoke. _

"_If you come near me, I swear I will gut you" He said in a calm, yet threatening voice that Leon had never heard before. He looked at his friend and knew that he'd made a terrible mistake. _

A knock at the door jolted him back to the present. "I'll just go shall I"? Ada's contempt filled voice floated through the door. When Leon didn't reply he heard her mutter something under her breath before the clacking of her heels on the wooden floor faded away. He released his vice like grip on the sink and sighed in relief. He finally faced his reflection in the mirror. What he saw reflected back startled him. He looked terrible. Drawn and pale with dark circles under his eyes. How long had he looked like that? What the hll was he doing to himself? He turned away from the mirror in disgust, sinking down to the tiled floor.

00000000

Chris closed the front door, scrubbing the garish lipstick off his cheek with his free hand. He couldn't remember who'd given him the kiss but he was sure he hadn't wanted it at the time. He caught sight of his miserable expression in the mirror above the phone table and it didn't make him feel any better. He wasn't a miserable person by nature. He stomped to the fridge and yanked it open looking for something to eat. He settled on a full stick of pepperoni that he'd been saving to make a pizza and took a huge bite out of it. He chewed thoughtfully as he headed into the lounge. What he needed to do right now was collapse on the sofa and flip through a comic book. If he was really lucky, he wouldn't hear any of the sounds from upstairs. He knew from bitter experience that Leon's calm and quiet manner didn't extend to the bedroom.

He hadn't been expecting to see Leon's woman again so it came as a bit of a shock to see her sitting on the sofa fully dressed and typing away on Leon's laptop. She jumped when he saw him standing there. She slammed the laptop closed and quickly put something into her pocket.

"What the fuck are you doing"? He demanded, dropping the pepperoni stick and glaring at her. Despite being startled when she saw him, she didn't seem overly ruffled. She stood up slowly and ran a hand through her silky black hair.

"Nothing handsome" She purred. "In fact, I was just leaving" She walked towards him, her hips swaying deliberately. She stopped beside him, running her soft hand up his left bicep. She smiled seductively. "Looks like I went home with the wrong man" She whispered into his ear.

"Just get the hell out" Chris replied, shoving her hand away. There was something about her overly flirtly and smarmy nature that instantly made him feel wary. She seemed to be a lot more than just some dumb floozy from a bar. He didn't have a clue what she'd been up to but he could hardly hold her hostage and demand an answer. Anyway, she was probably just checking her Facebook or something.

"Bye Handsome" She said smoothly. She gave him one last smile before sashaying out of the lounge. Chris heard the front door slam a few seconds later.

'Good riddance' He muttered to himself, rescuing the pepperoni from the floor and taking another good bite. He quickly decided that the sausage alone wasn't going to cut it and considered calling in a takeaway. Leon had coached him on enough Spanish so that he could confidently order a meat feat pizza with extra cheese and that sounded pretty good right now. He supposed he should really ask Leon if he wanted anything. He headed up the stairs and took a quick look around the rooms before ascertaining that Leon was in the bathroom. His bedroom door was wide open and the only signs of recent occupation was Leon's black t-shirt that was laying in a crumpled mess on the floor. Chris pounded on the bathroom door with his fist.

"Leon"!

There was a brief silence followed by an exhausted sounding reply.

"Come in"

Chris frowned. That hadn't been what he was expecting. He opened the bathroom door and saw the younger man sitting on the floor, staring at the side of the bath in front of him. Wordlessly, Chris entered the small room and sat down beside him. Leon was shirtless and leanst against the tiled wall. Chris could clearly see the old scar from Raccoon City on his left shoulder and the jagged red line from his recent stomach surgery. Seeing it made him feel sick as he remembered the events of the facility.

They sat like that for a few moments, both of them staring at the bath. Chris was frequently careless of other people's feelings but he sensed that this was the type of situation where he should wait for Leon to talk first.

"Is Ada gone"? He eventually asked quietly. He didn't sound sarcastic or smarmy anymore. He sounded exhausted.

"Yep" Chris nodded. "And I must say, hiding in a bathroom to avoid your date? That's awfully classy of you"

"Thank god for that" Leon exhaled, resting his head against the wall. "She was a bit of a mistake"

"Well, we all make mistakes" Chris replied. "Look, I need to say this now or I never will. I'm gonna go back to America tomorrow" He added. He'd come to the difficult decision whilst he was back in the bar and had decided to follow it through. He felt that he'd done all he could with Leon and he wasn't going to get any further. The whole PTSD thing would be a waste of time. Leon wasn't going to listen and he didn't see why he should be forced to stand by and watch the younger man self destruct. As much as he cared for his partner, he was going to have to let go. He couldn't keep putting his life on hold for someone who didn't care back. That, he knew, was the sensible part of his brain talking. The other part was telling him that he could, and indeed should, stay. He knew if he gave in to that part he would probably never go home.

"I'm surprised you weren't sent back sooner" Leon admitted.

"Dennis did try" Chris admitted. "I was officially released from my duties with the government a while ago. I made the choice to stay behind" He shrugged as if it had always been a simple, straight forward decision. He supposed making the decision had been simple to stay but it had put him out to the tune of a couple of hundred dollars as well as being in the bad books of his sister, Barry and most likely his landlord.

"Why would you do that"? Leon asked, unable to keep the obvious surprise from his voice. He turned to look at Chris and Chris saw that the expression on his face matched his voice. Chris couldn't help but grin at Leon's face. "Do you always have to grin like an idiot"? Leon's tone was lightly teasing, almost fond. "Seriously though. Why did you stay"?

"Dunno" Chris shrugged. "Just didn't like the right time to go home I suppose" He looked at Leon then quickly looked away but not before he'd seen the younger man do the same.

"Maybe it's time I went back myself" Leon said, more to himself than in reply to Chris. It was Chris' turn to look surprised. "You look like a trout when you pull that face" He mocked. "Oh and before you get any of your big ideas. I'm not going back because of you. I just think it's time that I went back. I need to learn to stop running" He stared at the bath taps feeling incredibly stupid. It wasn't just the recent business with Ada or those bar guys or even the way that he'd been treating Chris. He'd been running away since the whole thing with Krauser and now it was time to get back in the game. What he'd need first however, was a long vacation and a good rest.

There was so much he wanted to tell Chris. He found himself suddenly wanting to tell him anything and everything. He'd been surprised to hear that Chris had stayed in the country completely off his own back. He didn't know how to deal with the news. If he really cared for Chris did that mean that Chris maybe cared for him back? He felt a flicker of hope. He gingerly slid his hand across the cool tile and was about to put it over Chris' when the older man suddenly stood up and the moment was lost.

"Fair enough" Chris shrugged. "It's way too hot over here anyway. I was gonna order a pizza. You want in"?

"Sounds good" Leon hauled himself off the floor too. For the briefest of moments he really wished that Chris wasn't such a retard when it came to other people's feelings. "Since it's your last night here, why don't I crack open the good whiskey I was saving"?

"I like this new you" Chris replied as he closed the bathroom door and started down the stairs, Leon following close behind. "Of course it does make it harder to admit that I sort of, might of, accidently blocked the hot tub" He added sheepishly. He turned around at the bottom of the stairs to catch Leon's death glare. "Well" He shrugged. "You'll miss me when I'm gone"!

Although he continued to glare at the older man, Leon knew that he was right.

000000000

"You didn't do what I would consider to be an admirable job" Wesker intoned as Ada handed him the USB stick that she'd successfully retrieved from Kennedy's house. Wesker was sitting in the black leather chair opposite her, his face turned towards the small window of the private jet on which they were currently flying on. His face was impassive and it was impossible to tell what he was really thinking due to his eyes being hidden behind a dark pair of sunglasses. Ada had heard a lot about the famous Albert Wesker although seeking him out had been something of a chore. Convincing him to allow her to work for him had been easy. She smirked at the memory. Despite how intelligent and cold the former S.T.A.R.S captain was, he was still a sucker for a pretty face.

"I got a supposedly gay man into the bedroom" She reminded him, trying not to sound as peevish as she felt. She was an excellent agent and she considered honey trapping to be something of a specialist skill. Kennedy hadn't been a very hard nut to crack but she felt that given the fact he was supposed to be a dedicated cocksucker, she'd done an excellent job indeed.

"Nevertheless" Wesker continued, effectively closing the discussion. "I am pleased that my research documents are back in the right hands" He stowed the precious USB in the inside pocket of his jacket and patted it into place. "I'll be finding it all the more useful in the coming months..."

THE END


	4. Chapter 4

Notes- After a long delay, here's the next part of The Facility Revisited series. As you'll find out, not much has really changed in terms on content. I've removed the annoying 'CHAPTER BREAK' notes from chapters six and seven and have rewritten the scene where Leon and Chris kiss for the first time. That's about it really for this story as I've always been pretty happy with how it turned out. I can promise you that 'Endgame' is going to be a lot more interesting in terms of changes. There's one massive change coming up which I'm hope you'll enjoy a lot more than the original version! Thanks for reading!

The Facility Aftermath

Chris Redfield pressed his foot down harder on the accelerator as the hired black Jeep powered down the dusty and desolate road. The sun was high in the air and beating down on the vehicle and even though he'd cranked the air conditioning up as high as it would go, he could still feel the stifling heat. He didn't even have music as a distraction anymore. The radio had given out back at the last town and the Jeep was so old it still took tapes. Chris hadn't owned a tape since his teens. Resigned to a ride without some good classic rock, his thoughts turned to his short time in Africa.

He hoped that the people of Ki juju would be friendlier than the lot at the last place. Barry had warned him that it wasn't an ideal place to be an American but he'd still been surprised at the looks of pure hatred he'd been given as he'd stopped off for some gas. He took his hands off the wheel for a moment and wiped his sweaty brow. He needed something to distract himself from the blistering heat and, since music was a no-go, he was going to have to try and find the distraction in his surroundings. Unfortunately for him, the scenery was totally dull. The ground ahead of him was a muted palette of beiges and browns, the cracked baked earth scattered with dry yellow scrub bushes reaching towards the clear blue sky. The few trees that dotted the landscape where short and stunted, the dull green foliage hanging limply from the spider-like branches. It would've been all too easy for him to just turn the damn Jeep around and hop on the first plane back to America. Easy, of course, had it not been for the reason he was here in the first place.

Jill.

He'd returned from his adventures in Spain in high spirits, having successfully secured the funding for the BSAA. The first thing he'd done after a stop off in McDonald's, was head to Barry's place to tell him all about Spain. He'd been met at the front door of Barry's cabin by hushed tones and a grave expression from his former S.T.A.R.S colleague. While Chris had been away in Spain, something had happened to Jill. She'd been working some simple run-of-the-mill case in Chicago when she'd suddenly disappeared without a trace. She'd been keeping in regular contact with Barry and her boyfriend Carlos Oliveira but, after just a week, the e-mails and calls had dried up completely. Worried, Carlos had taken the first flight to Chicago in an attempt to track her down. Her last known whereabouts had been a small hotel in a rather run down area of the city. According to Carlos, the hotel room still had most of her belongings in but had shown no signs of a struggle. He'd involved the police and they'd had just as little luck. It seemed that she'd disappeared off the face of the planet. By the time Chris had returned from Spain, she'd been missing weeks. He'd been pissed that nobody bothered to tell him but he'd gotten over that and thrown himself into the search, desperately clinging onto every small clue or sighting. He'd travelled what felt like the length and breadth of America and he'd still come up with nothing. The weeks had rolled into months and they were still no closer to finding her. Before Chris knew it, a year had passed since his return from Spain and Jill was still missing. Barry, Carlos and the rest of Jill's family were slowly but reluctantly coming to terms with the fact that by now it was very likely that she was dead.

Chris however, utterly refused to believe that his highly resourceful former partner had succumbed to that fate. If anything, while the others around him gave up, his search intensified. The whole business hadn't given him time to even think about Leon much but he'd still called the younger man a couple of times, begging him to use his government contacts. Then, a couple of days ago, seemingly out of the nowhere, the BSAA received an anonymous tip off that a woman matching Jill's description had been seen in a small West African town. Barry and the others had been suspicious about the tip-off but Chris was determined. As far as he was concerned, it was information and he was damned if he was going to let it go cold. So, here he was, with Barry's and BSAA's reluctant backing, chasing down a rumour.

The view didn't improve all that much when he arrived at his destination. The terrain of the roads became bumpy and uneven, the dust rising in clouds as the tyres rolled onwards. The only colour seemed to come from the various battered metal signs hanging above wooden stalls and corrugated sheet metal doorways. With all of the Jeep's windows rolled down he was assaulted by a mixture of smells within the air. The strongest was the smell of manure, doubtless provided by the various livestock that had been herded into makeshift cages made from chicken wire that lined the street. Coupled with that was the choking smell of death coming from the corpses of goats that were hanging from some of the stalls. The villagers milled around the street, the women carrying large pots of water on their heads, the men strolling idly by, casting strange glances at the Jeep as it rolled by. Chris felt uneasy as he pulled over. He'd been told to meet his contact at a local butcher's store. He pulled up beside a battered looking building that appeared to be a street café. The villagers were openly staring at him now, some of them actually slowing down to gape at him as he climbed out of the Jeep. He had a quick look around and couldn't see anyone who was likely to be his contact. He leant against the driver's door, regretting the action immediately when the hot metal stung his back through his BSAA t-shirt.

"The sun does have a tendency to make things hot" A strangely familiar voice suddenly said in a mocking tone. Chris frowned, he'd recognise that sardonic 'you're-so-dumb-I'm-so-smart' tone anywhere.

"Where the hell did you come from"? Chris demanded, his mouth hanging open as Leon Kennedy strolled out of the entrance to the café, a bottle of water in his hand. He looked a little different from the last time he'd seen the younger man. His blonde hair was now a couple of shades darker and slightly shorter, but it was still in that silly floppy style that, if Chris was being honest, he'd always thought looked dumb. Unlike Spain, Leon was wearing desert camo coloured combats and a light grey fitted top. It was actually nice to see him in something other than black.

"America"? Leon replied with a raised eyebrow. "I live there now" He continued with a shrug. He took a sip from the bottle of water. Chris nodded, remembering something about Leon moving back to Washington. "So, how've you been anyway"? His face formed that gentle, concerned look that Chris had come to accept he would receive from people who heard about Jill.

"I guess I kinda dropped off the map after…" He moved to lean against the Jeep but stopped, remembering the heat. He tailed off. He hated to say her name, even now. Leon seemed to get this and nodded sympathetically. A look that, just over a year ago, Chris wouldn't have believed the younger man was even capable of. "So what brings you here anyway"? He asked, eager to get the subject away from Jill. "Did Barry ask you to help or something? I didn't think the government would let you bother with a simple missing person's case" He added with a hint of bitterness.

"They wouldn't" Leon said simply with a shrug. "That's not why I'm here. Although both Dennis and I think that Jill's disappearance has more to do with my mission than our higher ups are willing to consider"

"Huh"? Chris blinked. A year away from Leon had made him forget how much the younger man liked to talk in long, complicated sentences. Was it a prerequisite for Secret Service agents to be so god damn enigmatic? Leon rolled his eyes and shook his head. In spite of the seriousness of their current situation, Chris couldn't help but allow himself a little smile. Leon's attitude was beginning to make him feel like he was back in Spain.

"Why don't you just let me explain you impatient oaf"? Leon handed Chris his bottle of water. Chris gulped from it gratefully, the water dribbling down the front of his BSAA top. Leon raised an eyebrow but didn't comment, instead choosing to offer his explanation. "A while ago, Dennis received some intelligence that Wesker has been conducting experiments near this village. He was going to ask my replacement in Spain to deal with it but, given my personal experience with Wesker, he decided to give me the task of ascertaining exactly what's going on here. Whether or not he's built another facility is still very much in doubt but don't you think, given the former S.T.A.R.S members history with Wesker, yourself included, that it's a little bit too much of a coincidence that at the same time you receive information that Jill's here we receive information that Wesker is too"?

Chris squeezed the plastic water hard, ignoring the powerful spurt of water that exploded from the open neck, narrowly missing Leon. Wesker. Why hadn't he thought of the evil bastard before? It made perfect sense. Capturing Jill was the sort of sick, twisted thing that he'd do.

"So, I take it you won't argue if I say we should work together on this one"? Leon asked. He was looking around, a wary expression on his face. The villagers were still staring at them with expression ranging from contempt to pure hatred. They whispered to each other in their own language, using low, conspiratorial tones. They were hanging around in shady corners between buildings, gesturing to each other. There was an unsettling air of hostility hanging around them that made Chris feel distinctly uneasy.

"Sounds good to me" He replied. He popped open the Jeep's trunk and grabbed his pack. It was a basic backpack containing everything he'd need for a small camp, including a bedroll. He quickly shouldered it, wondering why Leon didn't seem to have a similar setup. After his disaster with his luggage in Spain, Chris had watched the pack like a hawk at the airport, making sure that he had it at his side the whole time. He wondered whether Leon would be proud that he'd actually learnt from his mistakes. "I'm supposed to be meeting a contact from the West African branch of the BSAA around here" Chris added, rummaging in the pockets of his combats for his PDA. He tapped a few of the buttons, grumbling as the damn thing took an age to load up and find the right memo. He wasn't a fan of technology. "There should be a butcher's shop in this village. That's where they'll be. I'll be given a basic load-out but I'm not sure that there'll be any surplus for you"

"Don't worry about it" Leon said with a shrug. "I've got a couple of useful items concealed" He muttered. Chris looked him up and down, curious as to where the aforementioned 'useful items' could possibly be. He figured that it was probably better not to ask. The two of them set off walking, keeping an eye out for the butcher's shop. Leon didn't say very much and Chris figured that the younger man was thinking the same thing he was, that it was probably best that they didn't ask for directions from any of the locals. It was a little strange to be working alongside him again but it was definitely not an unpleasant feeling. He wondered if Leon felt the same way. As quickly as the thought came to him, he dismissed it. Now was not the time to be thinking about his relationship, or lack thereof, with Leon. This was all about finding Jill and taking her back to America safe and sound.

They walked onwards, passing various stalls and huts. Most of the signage was written in the native language. Chris grimaced as he stepped over the rotting corpse of a dead goat with a small army of flies hungrily buzzing around it. The pack on his back was heavy and his back was slick with sweat. The BSAA top that he was wearing was designed to allow the skin to breathe as much as possible but it didn't seem to be able to stand up to the African heat. As they approached what appeared to be a linen stall, they saw a group of three young men kicking a large burlap sack between them as if it were a football. The sack was long and slim and big enough to easily contain a person. The men were all kicking it viciously, putting all their power into each kick. They were shouting to each other enthusiastically as the sack started twitching and writhing. For the briefest of moments, Chris considered that it could easily be Jill in the sack before quickly admonishing himself. He supposed that he'd gotten a little crazy in his searches and he'd been tempted to go back to the drink, especially when he'd been holed up in a sleazy motel after yet another failed lead or dead end. He'd pulled himself through it, telling himself that if he was ever going to find Jill, he would need a have a clear head. He walked past the trio, trying hard not to look; a silent agreement seemed to pass between himself and Leon to just ignore it. It wouldn't be worth getting into any trouble at this stage. However, he couldn't help but flinch as one of the men, seemingly tired of the game, took a hatchet from the back of his ragged trousers and slammed it violently into the sack. Almost immediately the movement within the sack stopped. As if on cue, the three men raised their heads and unashamedly began to eyeball them, their stares almost a warning to carry on walking.

They hurried onwards. Chris wondered if Leon felt as uneasy as he did. The younger man certainly didn't seem rattled but that was probably something to do with his intensive training as a Secret Service agent. Chris had found it quite strange that, after he'd returned to America, he'd found himself missing Leon quite a lot. He'd gotten used to waking up and going downstairs to find Leon sitting at the breakfast table, or just sitting and typing on his laptop as he read a comic book. There were times, on his bleakest searches, that he found himself wishing that Leon was by his side, if only to make the situation less lonely. If there was anyone he would want to have his back on a mission, it would be Leon. They'd swapped contact details when Chris had left Spain but they hadn't really had much contact apart from his calls begging for help with Jill. Despite the nightmarish circumstances of their reunion, Chris was beginning to realise that he was actually glad to see him.

"I think we've found your meeting point" Leon's voice dragged him away from his thoughts. He was pointing towards a building a few metres ahead that had various meats hanging from steel hooks in the dirty window.

"There should be a side door" Chris replied as they walked towards it. A few minutes ago, Chris could've easily murdered a nice thick steak but the sight of the dubious looking meat had put him off completely. Now, if someone offered him the finest fillet, he would have to say no. They walked down the side of the building, sticking close to the whitewashed wall. Some of the paint was peeling away, revealing a yellow sandstone core underneath. More disconcertingly were the reddish streaks across it that were either paint or dried blood. The side door itself had clearly seen better days. Made of heavily scratched steel, it was painted red and when Chris laid a hand on it, it was burning hot. He hissed in pain and Leon sighed heavily before pushing it open with his shoulder. It opened slowly with a loud creak; drawing suspicious looks from some of the villagers there were loitering nearby.

The room inside was, at least, shady. That however was the only positive thing, which Chris could draw from stepping inside. They were assaulted by a pungent rotting smell mixed in with faeces and, judging by the stains on the stone floor, had obviously been used as some sort of holding area come abattoir for the butcher's. There was a large stone table in the middle of the room with a large, rusted butcher's knife lying atop it. Dried blood was streaked across the table top with rivulets that had run down the sides. The walls were lined with a series of rickety looking wooden cupboards and in the nearest corner was a large hefty looking post with a thick rope coiled around it, obviously for tying down the animals that were to be slaughtered. In the back corner of the room, looking somewhat out of place amongst the old furnishings was a walk in fridge. It had been left open by the last occupant and had obviously been allowed to defrost, judging by the disgusting smell that was emanating from it. Chris could hear the distinctive buzzing of a swarm of flies coming from inside of it and hoped that he wouldn't have to find out what it was that they were feasting on. There was a small cough and it was then that Chris noticed a woman leaning against a low shelving unit, a short distance away from the fridge. She was tall and lean, her midnight black hair tied into a neat ponytail. She was dressed in tight tan coloured trousers and a purple vest. Long, brown leather gloves adorned her hands and arms, stopping just before her elbows. They matched the brown leather boots that were on her feet. In the gloom, Chris could just make out a tribal tattoo on her right arm. She smiled at them, seemingly impervious to the smell coming from the fridge. Atop the shelving unit was a large metal attaché case. She smiled at the two of them.

"You get used to the smell." She spoke softly yet confidently in a South African accent.

"I sincerely hope not," Leon replied as they approached her. He held out his hand and nodded at her. "Leon Kennedy. I'm tagging along with Chris here."

"Sheva Alomar." The woman said as she shook Leon's hand. She turned to shake Chris' "And you must be Chris Redfield, North American branch," She smiled curtly and continued. "I have your weapons," She nodded towards the attaché case that appeared to be locked with a combination lock. "You can't be too careful around here. Although I'm sure you've worked that out already. The combination is 2236."

Leon smirked at this but didn't explain why. Chris fiddled with the lock and opened the case to reveal an array of weapons packed into black Styrofoam inserts. Chris dumped his pack before pulling out a gun belt and tossed the spare to Leon who caught it with ease. The case contained the BSAA standard issue 9mm handgun and four clips as well as a shotgun and 12 extra shells. There was also an upper body harness to hold the shotgun and some grenades, which were also in the case. He clipped a radio onto his left shoulder and clipped a wireless blue tooth headset complete with mic into his ear. He turned to face Leon who had strapped the spare gun belt around his waist and was in the process of pulling a thigh holster out of one of the pockets of his combats. He strapped it on and holstered his handgun into it before holstering a magnum around his waist. Chris noted with interest that it was the same magnum he'd had back in Spain.

"Forty magnum rounds and fifty for the handgun." Leon said, loading up the pouches on his belt from his pockets. Chris opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a tinny crackling from Sheva's radio. She cursed in her native tongue and withdrew something from the pocket of her trousers.

"I've marked out a route on this map of the local area," She explained, handing Chris the map. "It leads to a safe house where we can meet up" She fiddled with her radio. "I'd like to escort you but I need to move ahead quickly. Alpha Team were supposed to be radioing from Checkpoint A but they're twenty minutes overdue." She made for the door.

"Wait"! Leon called out. "If you think something's gone wrong we should go with you," He added firmly. He looked over at Chris who nodded in agreement. Sheva however, was already shaking her head.

"You'll only slow me down." She replied adamantly. Without waiting for further arguments from either man, she ran off. Leon snorted as the steel door slammed shut behind her.

"Women…" He muttered. "So how far are we away from this safe house"?

"It's just through the village," Chris replied, studying the hastily drawn map in his hands. "Shouldn't take us too long to get there if we head straight through the main village area."

"Probably not such a great idea." Leon said, pointing towards the window. Chris peered through the smeared glass and saw that a large crowd of villagers had begun to gather around what looked like a wooden stage just a short distance away from the butchery. The crowd seemed roused and excitable, chattering and chanting away and occasionally letting out a cheer. Chris watched with unease as a villager dressed in jeans and checked shirt strutted onto the stage. He was wearing dark sunglasses and carrying a battered megaphone. Leon joined him by the window as the villager raised the megaphone to his lips and started to shout into it. The cheering and chanting grew louder and louder and eventually reached a crescendo as an abnormally large man wandered onto the stage. He was dressed in long black and brown robes that looked hastily stitched together. He was slightly stooped with an almost hump-like protrusion on his back. A black burlap sack covered his head and, more frighteningly, he was carrying a huge axe, the tip of which was crusted with dried blood. Chris watched with horror as two more villagers joined the stage holding tightly onto a struggling Sheva. She was screaming at the men, presumably pleading with them to release her. Chris' fingers curled around the handgun on his gun belt. He moved away from the window and before he could reach the door, a hand clamped down hard on his left shoulder.

"Don't be so stupid" Leon said harshly. "You'll get yourself killed! There's too many of them."

Chris shrugged Leon's hand off easily, shaking his head.

"I can't just let them kill her"! He shot back. He glared at Leon, daring the younger man to keep arguing. Since his increase in size and muscle mass, Chris had found that people were willing to argue with him less and less. Leon however looked back at him calmly. It appeared that he would dare.

"You're going to have to," He replied coolly. "There's nothing we can do. If you go out there guns blazing we'll be outnumbered before we know it. Would you just think for a change? You're not going to be much use to Jill if you're dead"!

Chris knew Leon had a point. There were far too many villagers out there for them to even try and take on. They'd run out of ammo when they were halfway through and then they'd be screwed. The calm look on Leon's face seemed to have a calming effect on Chris too. He hated the idea of standing by and letting Sheva die but they had no other option. They continued to stare at each other, as the crowd grew silent before the air was filled with a horrible, blood-curdling scream, which Chris sincerely hoped he would never have to hear again. If Leon was affected by the scream and the obvious meaning behind it, he didn't show it. He continued to stare levelly at Chris with barely a flicker of emotion. A few seconds passed before he spoke.

"We need to get moving."

Chris nodded and the two of them quickly located a back door that appeared to lead to a side street. The crowd in the square didn't seem to be a hurry to disperse so it looked like they were going to have a take a longer route and stick to the shadows. They readied their guns and stepped out into the street, ready for anything that might try to spring an attack on them.

"I don't know how you do it," Chris said quietly as they made their way down the narrow street. "Show no emotion like that." He explained. He could hear the chatter of the crowd and couldn't work out whether it was getting louder or not.

"You have to." Leon replied, leaning against a hut as they came up to a corner. He nodded at Chris to go first. As Chris stepped round the corner, Leon covered him. Finding no one down the next street, they continued on. "Doesn't mean I don't care."

Chris was about to reply when a metallic rattling cut him off. There was a woman standing the other side of the barbed wire fence at the bottom of the street. Just to the left of the fence was a door but apart from that, it seemed like they'd come to a dead end. As soon as the woman saw them she let out a loud cry. She took an inhuman leap and clung onto the barbed wire fence. As she climbed it and went over the top, the barbs from the wire tore into her legs. She didn't seem to notice as the tears started to bleed. She jumped from the top and landed a few feet away.

"Shit." Leon cursed as she started to advance on them. Chris could hear shouts and calls, obviously in a response to her cry. The woman started to draw a hatchet from a sack tied around her waist but before she could get it out Leon fired one well-aimed magnum shot that hit her directly in the forehead. With one final cry, she dropped to the dusty ground, convulsing for a few seconds before she finally lay still.

"More are gonna come." Chris said, looking for a possible escape. They could go for the door but there was no guarantee it wasn't another dead end. Climbing over the fence was also an option but he didn't fancy ripping his own legs to shreds on the barbed wire.

"We're going to have to go back." Leon replied, almost as if he was reading Chris' mind. Chris' radio suddenly crackled into life almost making him a jump. He fiddled with the tuning knob until the voice came through clearer.

"Redfield, Redfield do you copy"? An unfamiliar voice demanded.

"Redfield receiving. Pass your message." Chris replied into his headset. Leon was watching him hopefully. It was about time they came across a little luck. The radio crackled for a few more seconds before the voice came back, loud and clear.

"This is Kirk from Alpha Team. We'll be at your location in fifteen minutes. Hold up at the base over."

"Received," Chris answered. "It appears the locals are hostile."

"Do what you need to do until we get there. We're bringing in a chopper." Kirk replied before the radio cut out. Chris glanced at Leon who was looking over his shoulder. The voices of the villagers were getting closer. They need to move.

"Maybe we should hole up in the butcher's" Chris suggested as they ran back down the street back towards the main square. "We'll stand a better chance of watching all our directions that way."

"Sounds good to me." Leon said, picking up his pace a little. They ran for the butcher's shop, looking out for villagers as they went. They reached the steel door quickly and Leon wrenched it open before hurrying inside. Chris was about to follow suit when something suddenly yanked him backwards by the cord of his pack. Without turning round to see what it was, he quickly shrugged his shoulders out of the straps and ran for the door, slamming it closed behind him. Leon helped him push one of the wooden shelving units up against it. They turned to regard each other, slightly breathless from their quick run.

"So is this your thing then"? Leon asked with a slight smirk in spite of the situation. "Losing your bags"?

"What the hell are you talking about"? Chris looked at the younger man with confusion. He wasn't entirely used to this more chilled out Leon. He was always waiting for him to make some kind of acidic comment or give him a snotty look like he had when they'd worked together in Spain. Obviously it was an improvement but still, ever so slightly unnerving.

"Well, you lost your bag in Spain didn't you"? He pointed out as he calmly shifted another one of the wooden cabinets so that it was blocking a filthy window. Chris rolled his eyes at his partner and shook his head.

"God, do you remember everything"? He asked wearily. Leon merely snorted at him in return. They moved into one of the corners of the room, giving them the widest possible view. Outside, they could hear whispered voices and footsteps approaching the small shop. In the distance they could hear someone who was obviously the ringleader, rallying the villagers with shouts of encouragement. The tension in the small room was almost unbearable, reminding Chris of the nightmare of the Spencer Mansion. He remembered wandering the seemingly endless labyrinthine corridors and hallways, never knowing what you were going to find behind the next door, or what might be lurking in the shadows. He wondered if Leon was having similar memories of his time in Raccoon City.

A sudden heavy pounding on the door snapped him back to reality and he raised his gun. The voices were getting louder and louder and more villagers realised where they'd holed up. The butchery had become stiflingly hot now and Chris could feel the sweat trickling down his back. If Leon was as uncomfortable, then he certainly wasn't showing it. He was focussed on the door, his gun raised, his face set with concentration. Chris fought the urge to run out of the damn door and start gunning down their would-be attackers. He hated waiting around. He was always so proactive and it felt like he was almost hiding away like a scared kid. He jumped as a loud creaking noise echoed around the room, followed by the wooden cabinet breaking into pieces as the steel door was rammed open. Three villagers spilled in through the open doorway, hatchets and knives raised, ready to strike. Less than a second later, one of them collapsed to the floor, felled by a shot to the head from Leon's handgun. Chris followed suit, quickly flooring the other two. Their weapons clattered to the ground but were picked up again by more villagers who scurried through the door. There were a world away from the slow, lumbering zombies that Chris was used to. It was like they were still human but possessed.

"Shit"! He heard Leon's shout as the window smashed and more of them began to pile in through this new entrance. Wordlessly, as if it were practised, the two of them each took a separate corner of the room. Chris dealt with the villagers at the door, Leon taking the ones at the window. Chris' ears hummed with the sound of constant gunfire mixed with the screams of the villagers as they each hit the floor.

"Makes you miss zombies huh"? He called out as Leon dodged a wine bottle aimed for his head before taking out another attacker with an impressively accurate headshot. "They're not acting like any zombies I've ever seen"

"Cover me. I need to reload" Leon ordered as he felled two more of the creatures. Chris turned his attentions to the window as Leon slapped another clip into his gun. The horde was showing no signs of slowing down. More and more of them spilled into the room, their shouts becoming louder and more frantic as they noticed their fallen brothers. Leon narrowly missed a flying hatchet and Chris nearly took a knife to the ribs. The marauding villagers were relentless, now having to clamber over the dead to get to their intended targets. Chris absently noted their disregard for each other as sandaled feet trampled over the bodies of the people who died only moments before.

A loud crash echoed throughout the small room. Both men were showered in brick dust and dirt as one of the walls collapsed in front of their very eyes. The villagers stopped in their tracks as the axe-wielding giant stood in the gap where the wall had just been mere seconds ago. Now they were up close and personal, Chris could see how terrifying it looked. He was a clear two feet taller than either of them with thick limbs and an even thicker torso. An executioner's black hood was hiding his head and face and he was wearing a ragged grey leather apron. The most disconcerting thing about him was the hordes of thick nails that seemed to be stuck into the top half of his body. The axe he was carrying looked just as mean, a thick wooden handle ending in a large, block shaped axe with rusty chains hanging from the end. It was smeared with a garish mixture of dried and flesh blood. Chris felt a new wave of nausea hit his stomach when he realised whom that fresh blood had once belonged to.

"Move"! Leon shouted as the Executioner raised its fearsome weapon. Chris felt Leon grab hold of his shoulder and pull him towards the door. Chris snapped into action quickly, taking down the villagers that blocked their way out of the building. They ran quickly into the street that was strangely quiet after all the hectic activity back in the butcher's. They heard an earth shattering clunk as the axe obviously hit the floor of the building. "This way"! Leon commanded, pointing towards the main square. It made sense to take advantage of the sudden quietness and take the quickest route out of the village. According to Sheva's map, they need to leave the village via some large, grey steel gates. Chris could seem them in the distance, looming towards them promisingly as they ran. He could hear the villagers once more as they frantically searched for them. There was one of them standing near the gates on the roof of a nearby building. He had a megaphone in his hands and as he spotted them, raised it to his lips.

"Oh no you don't asshat"! Chris raised his handgun and, with the skills that made him the highest ranked marksman in S.T.A.R.S, took the guy out with a headshot.

"Impressive" Leon said, somewhat breathlessly. "Think you can get those gates open"?

"Of course I can!" Chris replied simply. Which was true, he could get those gates open, he just needed to work out how exactly. It looked like they were the sort that slid open. Chris grabbed the large metal handle on the side of the gate and started to pull with all his might. When the gates refused to shift he turned round to Leon and nodded in what he hoped was an official and professional looking manner. "Yeah, they're locked." He said with no trace of embarrassment or sheepishness. He stood instead with his hands on his hips, appearing, hopefully at least, to be in charge of assessing the situation.

"Leave that to us guys"! Chris' radio crackled to life once more and Kirk's cheerful voice came through. In the midst of the violent attack and the subsequent quick escape they'd made, Chris hadn't even noticed the distant sounds of the chopper that was fast approaching them. Turning his attentions to the sky, he felt that at that particular moment, there was no better sight in the whole world than the black vehicle.

"Right on time"! Chris replied into his mic. "Looks like the locals are a bunch of assholes who don't take kindly to strangers" He grinned at Leon who rolled his eyes. The younger man was keeping his gun raised, constantly on guard for any remaining villagers that might've worked out their current location.

"Take cover guys, this is gonna be a big one"! Kirk warned.

"Don't even say it" Leon said before Chris could open his mouth. Grabbing hold of the older man once more, Leon dragged him into a small stone building that looked like it could've been used as a storage room. There were a few small wooden crates inside that were stacked next to an old stone trough that was full of dirty, fetid water. They crouched inside and waited for the inevitable blast as the chopper set to work on the gates.

"Y'know, I've just worked out what you are" Chris said as they crouched shoulder to shoulder in the cramped space.

"What the hell are you babbling about"? Leon muttered, sounding unimpressed.

"Well Claire has this theory that the two people in any partnership always fall into certain roles. You've got the silly one and you've got the police officer. The silly one does all the awesome stuff like beating up the bad guys and saying all the cool one liners whilst still having a kick ass sense of humour. The police officer is all serious and careful and always tells the silly one off. And you know what else? It works out great because you actually used to BE a police officer"! Chris explained, grinning triumphantly. He felt like he'd just hit the nail right on the head. He'd always privately thought that his sister's various theories were bullshit so it was pretty neat to see one of them actually working out. Leon however, didn't seem to think so.

"I was only a cop for one day" He pointed out peevishly. "And I have to be the serious one around here otherwise we'd be dead"

"Yeah, but still, police officer" Chris reiterated as if that settled the argument. He smiled smugly and barely flinched when a loud explosion rocked the surrounding area. The earth beneath them trembled slightly.

"All clear guys!" Kirk's voice returned. "We'll catch up with you at the rendezvous. Stay safe"

As Chris and Leon came out of the stone building they saw the chopper disappearing into the distance. The steel gates were now a warped and twisted mass of metal, the ground around them smoking. There were no signs of any villagers. If any had been around they'd probably been scared away by the explosion. Chris breathed a huge sigh of relief and consulted the map.

"There's an industrial area about a mile away which is near a waterfront," He said, speaking more to himself as he thought it through. Leon however, was nodding and tapping away at his PDA.

"Sounds about right" He replied. "Our intelligence believes that Wesker has a facility that's a few miles up the river past some ancient ruins. We'll need a boat to get up there so the waterfront would be a good place to start"

"Let's go then" Chris folded the map away. "Partner"!

"Not that again…"

00000000000

"We've passed that building already"

Leon muttered a curse under his breath as Chris' slightly whining tone broke their silence once more. Ever since they'd left the village square behind, they'd been trapped in a never ending maze of back streets and alleyways. Chris insisted that they all looked the same and that from the amount of turning and weaving they'd been doing, it would be hard to tell whether they'd been going round in circles or not. Leon chose to ignore this. He had a hell of a lot more pride in his sense of direction than that. He was leading the way, his gun at the ready, just in case any villagers decided to launch an attack. They were acting like nothing he'd ever seen before. Definitely not like the creatures that stalked the corridors of the RPD building. They moved faster and appeared to have an almost inhuman amount of strength. The only logical explanation was that they were test subjects. From what he remembered from reading Wesker's research, it seemed like it was most likely a form of the Plagas virus. It made him feel sick to his stomach that this once innocent village had been turned into a large petri dish for Wesker's own sick pursuits.

There was, however, something else at the forefront of his mind and that was Chris. Despite how well they'd ended up getting on in Spain, Leon hadn't had much contact with him since then. It had taken him aback to see how much the older man had changed in a year. It wasn't a physical thing. Chris looked pretty much the same in that respect. It was something else, something less tangible. He thought back to the early days of their relationship when Chris had seemed nothing more than some witless goon that irritated him. In time, Leon had learnt that there were a lot more layers to his personality than that, but he'd never before seen him look so troubled. Chris was acting as silly and quip ridden as usual but there was something a little off about it. Leon considered himself to be something of an expert when it came to putting on an act so he could smell Chris' from a mile off. It seemed strange to come from someone who was usually so direct with his feelings. If Chris was happy, he would say so. If something pissed him off, he would say so. There had never been any complicated façade with him and it was worrying to see that that had all changed so quickly. Normally, Leon would just let him get on with it. Chris would either explode in a fit of rage or keep quiet until the mission was over and they could go their separate ways. It was the way Leon had handled his other unwanted partners. And that was what made all the difference. Chris was no longer one of those unwanted goons. The absence of the older man in his life had done nothing to extinguish the feelings for him that Leon had developed in Spain. He wanted to say that he no longer cared for him but he'd gone through the whole denial phase enough for one lifetime. He heard Chris sigh heavily and waited for yet another whiny onslaught.

"Do you think Jill's even alive"?

The question came out of the blue, as a total surprise, putting Leon on the back foot completely. Chris' tone was uncharacteristically serious and yet somehow resigned as if he was considering giving up. It was so different to the Chris Redfield that Leon thought he knew. His brown eyes were tinged with a hint of sadness that no amount of bravado could hide.

"I mean, look what they did to Sheva" Chris continued. "There's no reason why they wouldn't do the same thing to Jill…fucking animals"! He spat viciously, kicking out at a nearby rusted oil drum so hard that Leon thought he was actually going to dent it. "She's been gone for so long now. For all we know we could be chasing a fucking ghost" He snorted. "Hell, it's what Barry seems to think. He hasn't said so but I know he's given up on her. So has Carlos and he's supposed to fucking love her"!

"Doubtful" Leon replied adamantly. "Remember, the sighting of her is a recent one. If they were going to execute her then they would've done a year ago" He had a horrible feeling that he knew what had happened to Jill but there was no way in hell he would ever say so.

"I guess you're right" Chris said quietly. He scrubbed a hand over his face and shook his head as if he was silently chastising himself. "Let's find her" He added with a new vigour. Leon nodded but couldn't help but wonder whether Chris' mind had been changed on the subject or whether he was just trying to dodge his feelings. As they'd been walking along, the residential looking buildings and shop fronts were less and less and, more imposing featureless buildings had taken their place. Power lines criss-crossed over their heads, attached to rusted fuse boxes and transformers. They turned left and the end of the street and found themselves in an alleyway lined by chain link fences. Just like the ones in the village, they were topped with nasty looking barbed wire. Leon winced when he remembered the woman's legs, torn open by the vicious spikes. It was hard to tell whether or not they had reached the source of the village's power supply or whether it was something else entirely. It had been awfully quiet for a long time now and Leon was beginning to become suspicious. His fingers twitched on his handgun, ready for a surprise attack. Chris' radio crackled, starling him slightly. Kirk's frantic voice followed shortly afterwards.

"Redfield…Kennedy…rendezvous location breached…." He was shouting, his sentences broken up by back interference so that they were only getting the odd word. "Chopper going down…he's attacking…SHIT"!

Just as quickly as it had come to life, the noise over the radio died. Chris fiddled with the dials, trying to get a better reception, only to be greeted by the continuing silence. In the distance they heard the distinctive, yet muffled sound of an explosion. They looked at each other briefly before looking away, knowing full well what had happened to cause that particular sound. Chris frowned, his expression growing more determined. Leon knew that the deaths of his fellow BSAA members were getting to him. In his Secret Service training, he'd been taught quite harshly that there would be casualties during missions and that they needed to accept this and move on. He'd always hated the thought of being so hardened towards death that the loss of an innocent life wouldn't bother him but the more he'd worked for the Secret Service, the more he realised that, as hard as it was, it was something he had to get used to. He'd seen colleagues die in the most horrible and painful ways and he'd had to work past it to see the mission through to the end. He knew he was going to have to do the exact same thing here but also, to try and keep Chris focussed as well. If Chris lost his focus, they were both dead. A large grey building loomed at the end of the confined alley. There were a few small barred windows and a couple of large chimneystacks sat atop it. There were a couple of worn yellow and black hazard warning signs and a large sign down one side of the building that presumably explained what it was or had the company's name on it. It was the sort of building that wouldn't look out of place on an industrial site or abandoned Business Park. Judging by the streaks of rust stains that ran down from the water pipes and the cracked glass panes of the windows, the building hadn't been in use for a long time. The only thing that was blocking their way was a heavy steel door painted with yellow and black stripes at the end of the alleyway. Beyond that, they could clearly see the grey steel door that led into the building. Constantly on the lookout, they ran for the first door, which on closer inspection was locked tight with a thick chain and sturdy padlock.

"Doesn't look like that's going to move" Leon said, fiddling with the weighty padlock before letting it drop back against the door.

"It's not that high, we could climb over it" Chris suggested. The fence at either side was topped with the brutal barbed wire but, luckily for them, the door wasn't.

"Give me a boost" Leon ordered. Chris nodded and laced his fingers together, creating a little platform out of his hands. Leon stepped in and Chris heaved him up. Leon grabbed onto the top of the doorframe and hauled himself up and over. He landed gracefully on the balls of his feet. "Need any help"?

"Hey, this is Chris Redfield you're talking about" Chris smirked at him, backing off for a few paces before taking a running jump at the door. He grabbed hold of the top of the doorframe just as Leon had and pulled himself up before leaping down, landing heavily on flat feet. Leon gave a sympathetic wince as he landed.

"Did that not hurt"? He asked.

"Not at all" Chris said through gritted teeth. Leon raised an eyebrow and looked at the older man doubtfully.

"Would you like me to turn away so you can react accordingly"? He offered. Chris nodded gratefully. Leon smirked and turned away from his partner. He did however, glance over his shoulder for a brief moment and saw Chris hopping about and mouthing various obscenities. As ridiculous as Chris looked, it was nice to see him acting a bit more like his old self. "Ready"?

"Let's go" Chris said, perfectly calmly. They walked over to the grey steel door, Chris backing up against the wall, his gun raised. Leon kicked the door and it swung inwards, opening with a creak. They entered as slowly and quietly as possible, ready for a surprise attack. The door lead into a narrow empty corridor. It was stacked ceiling high with pallets down one side of it and smelt faintly of old machine oil. The walls were the same grey concrete as the outside of the building and the grey stone floor was spattered with oil and general grime. A few metres ahead of them they could see that the corridor forked to the right, a blind corner. Keeping their weapons drawn, they made their way towards the end of the corridor. It loomed closer and closer, their bodies tense and primed for a surprise attack. Leon opened his mouth to say something but was cut off when a man dressed in khaki tactical gear flew into view from around the corner. His body hit the wall and he slumped down slowly, leaving a gruesome bloody smear on the concrete wall. The body hit the floor and slumped forward. A pool of blood started to rapidly spread across the floor. Judging by the state of him, he'd been dead before he hit the wall.

"Shit"! Chris exclaimed.

"Ssh"! Leon hissed, nodding towards the corner. "Whatever killed him might still be round there," He added in a harsh whisper. Chris nodded and started to advance on the corner. Leon followed, swapping his handgun for his magnum. The rounded the corner slowly, confused when all they found was yet another corridor, stretching down the length of the building before ending with a lift shaft. Leon stood, keeping watch whilst Chris knelt down to examine the man's body.

"Alpha Team" Chris muttered, studying the man's dog tags that were still slung round his neck. "I didn't know him" He was silent as he looked over the body, running his hands over him to try and find the source of the blood. "He's got holes in his torso" He said grimly. "They've gone straight through his Kevlar vest…"

"Gotta be powerful to get through one of those" Leon replied, not taking his eyes of the lift in front of them. "I don't understand how we didn't hear anything," He said over his shoulder. "If he'd been attacked on a different floor and used the lift we would've heard it"

"So whatever attacked him, did it on this floor then…" Chris checked the fallen Alpha's gun. It was completely empty and he wasn't carrying any extra clips.

"Got away silently" Leon finished for him. "Of course the other theory is that whatever attacked him is still around here somewhere, hiding"

Chris stood up and looked upwards towards the ceiling. There were no vents or obvious gaps. The only possible place that something could be hiding was the lift itself. The bottom half of the lift carriage was obscured by a piece of sheet metal adorned with some more of the warning signs they'd seen on the outside of the building.

"I'll go, back me up," Leon said, creeping forwards as silently as possible. He held his breath, as he got closer towards the carriage. He could barely hear Chris' footsteps behind him, proof at least, that he was hopeless when it came to being stealthy. Keeping his magnum trained on the carriage Leon got close enough to take a look. He breathed out when he saw that it was, like the corridor, empty. He turned to Chris and shook his head. Chris looked confused and shrugged.

"Looks like there's no way else to go but down" he suggested. He lowered his gun and hurried to the lift carriage, following Leon in. "I don't like this at all" He added as Leon pressed the lift's button.

"That's good because I'm loving it" Leon replied sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. The lift started to descend, rattling and juddering as it moved slowly downwards. "Do you think we'll ever get the opportunity to get together in more normal circumstances"? He asked, expecting some kind of goofy reply. It came as a shock when a dark look crossed Chris' features.

"Only when Wesker's dead" The older man spat. He didn't offer anything else and Leon didn't want to push him so he kept quiet. It seemed like there was a rich history between Chris and Albert Wesker. Much more than Chris himself had told him. He wondered briefly if he would ever find out the whole story. He wondered if he even wanted to know it.

The lift stopped suddenly, the doors creaking open and revealing another corridor, narrower than the one on the previous floor. Leon heard Chris' sharp intake of breath when he caught sight of the bodies of other Alpha team members, littered down the corridor like gruesome rag dolls left behind when their owner had tired of playing with them. The floor was streaked with slicks of blood leading to the pools seeping out from underneath the bodies. The blood was splashed up the walls, spattered on the thick heavy pipes that ran the length of the ceiling. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, thick power cables drooping down in arcs against the walls. By the looks of it, Leon guessed that it was a maintenance passage of some sort. The smell of the blood was drowned out by the unmistakable stench of smouldering. Whatever had been burnt had obviously not been vented, so the noxious fumes still lingered in the air. Coupled with this smell was a low and distant hissing. Behind him, Leon heard Chris swap his handgun for his shotgun, obviously uneasy. They wordlessly moved along the corridor slowly, picking their way through the mangled corpses. Leon noted, with little humour, how he'd become desensitised to such horrific sights. His mind took him back to the sewers underneath Raccoon City when he'd been confronted with the sight of butchered corpses floating in the murky waters. He'd been shocked to his very core by the sight and had fought to keep the contents of his stomach under control. He'd been confused and unnerved, wondering what the hell had caused such brutal murders. Although he was wondering the very same thing right now, it was different. He knew that whoever or whatever had murdered the Alpha Team would soon be confronting them and it was that feeling, he noted with bitterness, that shouldn't feel so normal.

The end of the corridor opened out into a much wider space. To their left was an upended skip with tractor tires and sandbags spilling out of it. In the right hand corner was another large stack of shipping pallets. The hissing was louder now and seemed to be coming from an off-shoot to their left that lead to another blind corner. In front of them was another heavy steel door, painted red with symbols and writing scratched into it. The walls were lined with extraction units and large fans which served to send the burning smell in their direction. Chris moved forward first, heading straight for the door. He reached out for the handle and Leon could see how sweaty his palm was. As he put it down on the handle he sudden pulled back quickly, like it was hot. Leon glanced towards the offshoot; it looked like they were going to have to go there. It wasn't a very inviting prospect.

"I'll go first this time," Chris said, his voice sounding so suddenly loud in the silence. Leon nodded and followed the older man as he set off down the small corridor, his shotgun poised. Despite the intensity of the situation, Leon couldn't help but admire the toned muscles of Chris' broad shoulders and wide back, showed off by his tight BSAA top. He'd really been stupid to think that his attraction would wane somehow. He shook his head to clear those thoughts. He needed to focus right now, not chase after something he was never going to get.

It wasn't long before they came to yet another locked steel door.

"This one doesn't look that strong, we could probably bring it down with a good kick or two" Chris said confidently.

"I seem to spend my life dealing with locked doors" Leon replied with a heavy sigh. Yet again his mind insisted on taking him back to Raccoon. The police station this time, with its many locked doors. He remembered how much his shoulder had screamed in pain by the time he'd broken down door after door, certain that escape was behind each one of them. The annoyance he'd felt when the stupid club key had been in the lock on the other side of one of them. It was the sort of thing he would've found funny on any other day…

"Tell me about it" Chris said with a strained chuckle. "You haven't felt true irritation until you've chased your own ass through a mansion looking for Sword, Armour, Shield and Kiss-my-mother-fucking-ass keys for hours on end…" He shook his head at the memory and Leon couldn't help but smile a little. It would seem that if they bothered to get into it, they had a lot in common and a lot to talk about. "So, you ready to bust this door down"?

"I guess it's preferable than backtracking" Leon answered. "I'm just not sure we should be making any noise when we don't know what's waiting for us"

"C'mon" Chris shrugged. "It's us! We're well leaded and I'm sure we can deal with whatever might come our way"

Leon nodded and lowered his magnum. After a few seconds of making sure they got the angle right, the two of them kicked their hardest, the door swung open and the hissing noise suddenly got a lot louder. Before they could investigate where the sound was coming from, they heard a heavy breathing coming from behind them. They whirled around quickly and there, standing little over a metre away was a horribly familiar face…

Chris felt his stomach leap into his throat as he turned around to see none other than Jack Krauser standing before them. The barrel of his shotgun was aimed straight at the mutated human but the arrogant man smiled like it was of no consequence.

"Krauser…" He heard Leon's choked gasp, the younger man sounding as shaken as Chris felt right now. He glanced at the younger man who was staring at Krauser incredulously.

Krauser looked the same as he had back at the facility in Spain. The spines on his mutated left arm were dripping with fresh blood from the fallen members of Alpha team. The taut film between these spines was expanding and contracting in time with the crazed man's breathing. He was dressed only from the waist down in the same filthy tattered remains of his combat trousers and scuffed black combat boots that were caked with blood and chunks of flesh. His human face and the rest of his body were still intact which meant that he hadn't mutated any further like Alexia Ashford or the T.A.L.O.S beast. It didn't, however, mean that he wasn't capable of it. Chris barely had time to take in the reappearance of the twisted creature before he lunged for the mass of mutated claws on the end of his arm lunged straight for Leon. Leon ducked and quickly executed a perfect roll, getting to his feet behind Krauser and reaching for his magnum.

"How are you even fucking alive you crazy bastard"? Chris shouted in an attempt to distract Krauser. Krauser however was seemingly ignoring him in favour of Leon. He'd turned around and lunged for the younger man again. Chris, with a clear shot at the man's back, fired. The shotgun shell hit, tearing through Krauser's blood-stained back. The man barely flinched as he continued to advance on Leon. The claw swiped out once more and Leon dodged in the small space, catching his knee on the wall. Chris fired again, another shell hitting Krauser's back, creating a wound but still having no obvious effect. They couldn't carry on like this indefinitely. His mind raced through the options. Escaping the way they came. No. Wouldn't work. Lift too slow. That other door. Try again. It's locked.

"Chris! Move"! Leon called out. The younger man's hands wrapped around his sweaty bicep pulling him through the open door and into a confined chamber. The hissing sound was deafening now and Chris quickly realised that the sound belonged to the gas pipes of a large furnace. He realised too late that there was no other way out of the chamber other than the door they'd just come through. Krauser was gained on them fast. They were going to have to fight.

Huge gas tanks took up the centre of the chamber with 'flammable' symbols emblazoned across them. They were housed in a large barbed wire pen stretching from floor to ceiling. Pipes ran from these tanks into the furnace itself, which consisted of a smaller chamber with two heavy metal shutters at either end. His mind was working quickly now, formulating a plan. It was a relief to hear it echoed from Leon.

"We need to lure him into that furnace" Leon said, pointing towards it. "There's a control panel just by one of the shutters. If we can get them closed and work out how to turn it on before he can escape the heat will take him out" He explained breathlessly. They could hear Krauser in the corridor. He obviously knew they were trapped, as he made no effort whatsoever to get to them quickly. Chris hoped that it would be this unbelievable arrogance that would prove to be his downfall. "You go for the controls, I'll be the bait" Leon continued. Chris nodded, not at all happy with that particular part of the plan. It made sense of course, after all, it seemed that Krauser's interest was in Leon but he didn't like the idea of anything going wrong and Leon getting hurt again. His mind teased him with images of Leon lying in the hospital room in Spain, hooked up to all those machines…

"Chris, he's coming, move"! Leon ordered, running towards the shutter. Chris ran for the second shutter and waited by the control panel beside it. Krauser strolled almost idly into the room, his smirk stretching from ear to ear.

"It'll take much more than some squid in a tank to take me out Kennedy" He mocked, spotting Leon by the shutter. He moved towards him with inhuman speed, closing the distance between them in one leap. Chris spotted the handle on the top of the shutter above Leon's head. He mentally cursed. The damn things were manual! He was going to have to wait for Krauser and Leon to get inside before he could run round to close it. His heart hammered in his chest as Krauser raised his claw, seemingly teasing Leon with it. He wanted to march over there and rip it from the bastard's torso. The only time he'd felt such intense hatred in his life was after Wesker had shot Leon in the facility. He watched as Leon backed into the furnace and Krauser followed, mindlessly taking the bait. Chris saw his chance and ran round to the shutter, reaching up for the handle and slamming it down. It hit the floor with a loud metallic clang and as he ran back to the control panel, he could hear the sound of Leon opening fire, the shots deafening in the enclosed space. As he reached the controls, Leon staggered out of the furnace. He quickly turned and started to shoot once more as Krauser appeared by the doorway. Three bullets struck Krauser's left leg, the magnum's firepower causing him to drop to his knees, his claw pulsating, the spines flexing dangerously. Chris jumped up for the shutter handle and brought it down quickly, trapping Krauser in the furnace. He pressed the start button on the control panel and the hissing grew to a crescendo as the furnace started to fill up with gas. He could hear Krauser inside, screaming and roaring with rage. He looked in through the small viewing window on the other side of the shutter and could see that his left leg had begun to split open, cracking, splintering, mutating and spraying the furnace walls with blood. His screams petered out and Chris jumped back as the claw whacked hard against the reinforced glass.

"Looking for Jill are we"? Krauser bellowed over the sound of the gas. "Maybe you should ask the bitch in the red dress" He locked eyes with Chris, his gaze full of hatred. Chris took a step back from the viewing window. He became vaguely aware of Leon's hand on his shoulder, pulling him back to the control panel.

"I'll hunt you until the end of you days Kennedy"! Krauser roared, suffused with rage. "Dirty faggot"!

Leon remained perfectly composed, his gloved fingers dancing over the control panel, searching for the right button.

"Yeah, I'm gay" He called back calmly. "Looks like it's your problem and look where it got ya" He added, punching a button with a picture of a flame on it. The furnace exploded into life with the energy of the sun, the intense light blanking out the viewing window. The blaze died down as suddenly as it started. They stood in silence for a few minutes, taking in what had just happened. Chris felt shell-shocked. The mention of Jill's name sinking in. He wanted to berate himself for not charging into the furnace at the mention of her name and beating ten tonnes of shit out of him until the twisted bastard told him everything he knew.

"He probably didn't know anything" Leon spoke suddenly, almost making him jump.

"I need to know he's dead," Chris said coldly. He yanked open the shutter, ignoring the burning warmth and stuck his head inside the furnace. The heat within was still intense but he managed to bear it. In the middle of the furnace was a pile of dust and what appeared to be charcoal. The sight made him feel mildly better. "Well, he ain't coming back from that"

"Good" Leon said firmly. He was bending down and picking something up from the floor. He held it up to show Chris. "Keys. Krauser must've dropped them"

Chris nodded, figuring the keys were probably for the locked door they'd passed earlier. His mind was chattering away, trying to figure out what the hell Krauser had talked about when he'd mentioned 'the bitch in the red dress'. Perhaps Leon was right; perhaps Krauser really didn't know anything. After all, the guy was half man half BOW and totally crazy to boot. Then again, if Krauser didn't know anything then how did he know Jill's name? There was always a chance that Wesker had mentioned her in Spain but he got the distinct impression that Krauser was more of a toy for Wesker to play with than a buddy to chat to.

"We're gonna find her" Leon's voice broke through his thoughts once more. He turned to face the younger man and saw the confident, adamant expression on his face. Chris realised that if there was anyone he had to be stuck in this nightmare with, he was with the right person.

"You're right" He replied. "We will find her"

"We'll head back to the door we passed and see what's behind it" Leon continued. He started to walk back towards the corridor. Chris followed, barely looking back at the furnace and the charred remains of Jack Krauser.

000000000000

The locked door had led to yet another lift, which they'd ascended to find themselves in what looked like a large garage like room. A rusty old Jeep was parked in the far corner, its tires rotten with age. There were more pallets and oil drums as well as planks of wood stacked up around the rest of the wall space. The room seemed to be devoid of human life and through a dirty window that spanned almost the length of the back wall; they could clearly see the waterfront area, stretching out below them. Although they had a limited view of the area, both of them could clearly see villagers milling in and out of the small cluster of buildings.

"I can't see any way around" Leon said, after observing the scene for a few moments. "Looks like we're gonna have to fight our way through" He checked out his ammo situation. He was starting to run low on handgun bullets but was still pretty well leaded with his magnum. He knew Chris still had all of his shotgun shells so they'd probably be alright.

"Fuck…look at that"

Leon looked over to where Chris was pointing. Towards the middle of the small waterfront settlement were the unmistakable remains of a smouldering helicopter. Small wisps of smoke were still rising from it, unfurling into the sky.

Leon instantly recognised it as the chopper that Kirk had been riding in. Although they both knew what had happened to it, it was shocking to see it. The villagers were seemingly ignoring it, obviously unfettered by such an erroneous sight.

"We need to end this before anyone else dies" Chris said firmly. He was staring at Leon, looking intense as he spoke. "I'm not losing anyone else on this mission".

He added, almost as if saying it out loud would prevent it from happening. Leon nodded. He wanted to tell Chris that it was going to be alright and that nobody else was going to die except he couldn't. He couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't happen again and he didn't want to insult Chris' intelligence by trying to placate him. His silence however, only seemed to serve to irritate the older man. "I don't get how you can be so cold to this! Doesn't it bother you that people around you are getting brutally murdered? Shit! I mean, I know you're cold, hell, Spain was a perfect example of that but we've seen an innocent young woman executed and now this and you don't say boo" He ranted, getting more and more worked up with every word. Leon continued to remain silent. Chris was obviously stressed and seemed to need to do this. He started to pace, flailing his arms and getting himself more worked up as he did so. He kicked out at one of the Jeep's tires. A large chunk of the tire crumbled off the wheel rim. "These are our colleagues and they're dying and you just carry on like some sort of fucking robot! What do they do in the Secret Service? Remove your fucking conscience as well as your fucking sense of humour"? He whipped around and glared at Leon. "Look at you! Just standing there looking all cool and not saying a fucking word! Can't you at least tell me that it'll be alright? No! You obviously can't even do that…FUCK"! The last word exploded from Chris mouth and he turned away from Leon. Leon heard him sigh heavily.

"Do you feel any better now"? He asked quietly.

"I guess I do actually" Chris turned back around to face him and it seemed that some of the anger and intensity had drained away from his expression. He leant against the Jeep, rubbing the skin between his eyebrows. "I've never been good at dealing with death. I got kicked out of the Air Force because they wanted me to leave a guy behind and I couldn't. Ended up mounting a rescue mission and nearly getting me and a couple of others killed doing it…and then that shit with the Spencer Mansion. Opening a door or walking down a corridor and finding the butchered corpse of one of the Bravos and now this" He waved his hand around in the air. "It just gets to me sometimes and I guess I need to have a vent"

"By saying 'fuck' five times in quick succession"? Leon offered with the briefest hint of a smile. He didn't want to appear like he was trying to lighten the situation too soon but they needed to get moving and press onwards and the sullen, angry Chris would be too careless and take risks.

"You counted"? Chris raised an eyebrow and offered a small smile back. "You're a fucking nerd Kennedy"

"Hey, if I had a dollar for every time I've heard you swear I'd…" He thought for a moment and then shrugged. "Have enough for a semi-decent meal anyway" He nodded in the direction of the window. "I saw a small jetty out there with a boat. That's gonna be our best option to get down the river"

"Let me guess. We're gonna have to fight our way to it" Chris replied. He sighed heavily and checked his ammo. "You think Wesker's got something to do with all this"?

"Has to be" Leon said gravely. "From what I read in the reports we found at the facility he was looking for a group of people to carry experiments out on. They don't act or move like zombies which says to me that it's some new type of virus that he's developed"

"More innocent lives ruined by the hands of Albert Wesker" Chris spat. Leon saw the dark intense look come over his partner's features once more. He knew that personally, his connection to Wesker was purely job related. As far as the Secret Service were concerned, he was just another out of control terrorist who needed to be stopped. For Chris however, it was so much more. The older man had only briefly explained what had happened during the Mansion Incident but Leon knew that Chris' relationship with Wesker was deep and complicated. Seeing that look on Chris' face at the mention of his name made Leon want to hunt the man down and personally tear him limb from limb.

"Let's go," He said with renewed conviction. "We're going to find Jill and we're going to finish this"

They headed out of the garage and down a large set of slightly rusted metal stairs that led into the small village below. They could see the motorboat at the jetty behind another steel gate. Beside the jetty was a set of wooden stalls laid out to make a small market square. Next to this square at the other side was a large steel building with more painted signs and pictures of fish on the side. It was obviously a fishing warehouse of some sorts. The wooden jetty itself looked old and unstable. There was still a slightly hostile atmosphere but it seemed different from the previous village. The villagers were eyeing them with suspicion but were hurrying into nearby houses as if they were trying to get away from them, not attack.

"This is getting strange…" Chris muttered. Leon nodded. The whole air of the village seemed distinctly different. There were no rotting smells or signs of disrepair. The buildings were well maintained the Leon could smell the fruits from the market stalls.

"You two! Americans! Stop right there"! A loud, clear and confident voice called out from the doorway of the fish warehouse. A tall, well-built black man started to run towards them, his head was shaved and he was dressed in olive green combat style trousers and a black vest. A mean looking machete hung from a black leather belt. There was a large tribal tattoo covering his entire left arm and shoulder. He had strong, defined muscles and looked as though he could easily match, if not overpower, Chris in terms of strength. He stopped when they were a metre or so apart, observing them with unfriendly eyes. "What business do you have here"? He demanded, his right hand hovering over the handle of his machete.

"Relax, we come in peace" Chris announced importantly, enunciating every word as if the man was stupid. Leon cupped his face in his palm and sighed deeply. The man looked at Chris in bewilderment.

"Really smooth Chris" Leon said sarcastically. "He obviously speaks English" He nodded apologetically at the man. "I'm sorry about him. He's…something you have to get used to." He said by way of explanation. "My name's Leon Kennedy and we're looking for a way to get up the river. Would you be able to help us"?

Chris snorted indignantly, obviously sore at being denied the opportunity to work on his foreign relations. Leon ignored him. They were having enough problems as it was without Chris' clumsy interpersonal skills.

"My people don't trust Americans" The man replied, his hand still hovering over the handle of his weapon. "But you're different to the ones that have been by here recently" He held out a hand. "Josh Stone"

Leon shook the proffered hand, frowning when he realised what Josh had just said. Other Americans?

"Who else has been through here"? He asked. A couple of villagers were witnessing the exchange, approaching them with obvious caution.

"Leon" Chris whispered.

"Chris, shut up" Leon warned as Josh started to explain how a group of 'soldiers' had descended on the village a few weeks ago. They'd tried to launch an attack on the village but Josh and some of the other men had managed to fight them off.

"It wasn't easy" Josh continued. "They had guns. I heard what happened to the last village they went to. Some sort of infection"

"Leon"! Chris repeated, this time more urgently.

"Not now"! Leon hissed. He turned back to Josh. "Did they have any sort of insignia on their uniforms"? He asked. He had a horrible feeling that these 'soldiers' belonged to Wesker and that they'd been dispatched to the village with the intention of infecting it, just like the previous one.

"Not that I saw" Josh answered. "We were too busy fighting them off. They haven't been back since but obviously we don't trust outsiders now. Particularly Americans"

"Leon"! Chris persisted, poking Leon hard in the shoulder. Leon sighed heavily and apologised to Josh before turning to Chris.

"What the hell do you want"? He asked irritably.

"That kid's staring at me" He whispered, pointing towards a little boy that was standing close by, his arms wrapped around his mother's leg, his eyes wide and unblinking and staring at the two of them. Leon rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Just ignore him," He muttered back. Once more, he turned his attentions back to Josh who seemed to be a little more relaxed in their company. "Did you see anyone else with them? Another man or a woman perhaps"?

"There was a man with them. I only saw him briefly" Josh replied. His hand had moved away from the machete now and was dangling freely by his side. Leon could feel the hostility in the air slowly drifting away. "Self-important man. Dark clothes, dark sunglasses and blonde hair. He seemed to be in charge but he disappeared before I could get near him. He had a woman with him but I didn't get a good look at her"

Leon nodded. That was all he needed to hear. It was obvious from Josh's description that the man he was talking about was Wesker. As for the woman, it could've possibly been the one that Krauser had mentioned back in the furnace. The woman he claimed held clues to Jill's whereabouts.

"You seem trustworthy" Josh continued. "I can give you the boat but nothing more I'm afraid"

"The boat will do fine" Leon replied gratefully. "You have my word that we're fighting on your side. We're trying to stop that man too and we intend to do it sooner rather than later. We could always use the extra help if you want to come along with us" He offered. Josh smiled but shook his head.

"I need to stay here. The soldiers might return. I would never forgive myself if I wasn't here to fight alongside my village" He looked over his shoulder and shouted something in his own language to a nearby man. The man nodded and disappeared inside the warehouse. He came back out a few moments later and handed something to Josh. Josh placed the object in Leon's gloved hand. It was a key, obviously for the motorboat.

"Thank you"

"Not a problem" Josh replied. The pair shook hands and the villagers around them slowly began to go back to their errands and jobs. Leon turned around to see Chris crouched beside the little boy who'd been staring at him, offering him a chocolate bar that he'd pulled out of one of the pockets of his combats. The boy looked up at his mother and his mother nodded encouragingly. The boy reached out and took the chocolate bar, smiling at Chris in thanks before running away, his mother following behind. Chris stood up and grinned at Leon goofily. Leon couldn't help but smile. At least whilst Chris had been distracted with the child he hadn't heard what Josh had said about the woman who'd been with Wesker.

"We've got the boat," Leon said, holding up the set of keys.

"Great" Chris replied. "Sure beats fighting off another hoard of crazies" He followed as Leon led the way down to the steel gate. "Have you got any idea how to drive this thing"? He asked as they approached the motorboat. It was fairly small and compact but would seat two people comfortably.

"Yes actually" Leon said, clambering into the boat. He hadn't had much experience with motorboats but he knew enough to get by. He checked the directions on his PDA and started up the boat. Chris hopped in and the pair set off down the river.

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It was late evening before the buildings and villages made way for marshlands. The motorboat cut through the tall reeds that were dotted in the murky water. The sun had set and taken the heat with it, leaving behind a clear starry sky and cooler temperatures.

"According to my notes there should be a tribal village around here" Leon said as he slowed the boat down a little. There didn't look to be anything around them apart from a very small wooden jetty to their left with a small wooden shack beside it. There were no lights or any other signs of life coming from the shack. Leon looked up at the sky, it was getting darker and darker and he didn't know about Chris, but he was exhausted. They were going to need to find somewhere to eat and sleep soon and judging by how desolate the marshlands were, it could be a while before they came across something similar. He steered the boat towards the jetty and brought it to a stop.

"We should stop here for the night. Get something to eat and get some rest," He explained as he cut the boat's engine. Chris had been surprisingly silent on the journey and Leon guessed that his thoughts had turned back to what Krauser had said about Jill.

"We should keep going" Chris finally replied. He sounded tired and when Leon looked at him, the older man had dark circles around his eyes. "We need to press on. The longer we take the less chance we'll have of finding Jill"

"Chris we need to rest" Leon said firmly. "You look exhausted, I certainly feel exhausted and we both need to eat. I've got some rations on me which are gonna have to do for now" His voice softened. "I know you want to find her and I know how much it must be killing you that we're so close but we need to look after ourselves as well. We'll rest here tonight and press on first thing in the morning. Ok"?

Chris nodded but didn't really look like he agreed. He dutifully followed Leon into the small shack, guns raised, to check it out. It was completely empty and, judging by the dirty straw that covered the floor, hadn't been used for a while. It could sleep the two of them but it would be a bit of a squash. They relaxed somewhat and Leon rifled through the pockets of his combats and produced two foil packages containing some basic rations. He tossed one to Chris who opened it and started to devour it wordlessly. It was obvious by the way Chris was acting that he was in no mood to settle down and go to sleep. Leon sat down beside him and started to pick at his own ration pack.

"How's Claire"? He asked quietly so that Chris could pretend he didn't hear if he wanted to. The last thing Leon wanted to do was push him into talking.

"Fine" Chris replied. "She thinks Kevin's gonna propose soon. I guess I don't mind. He's a good guy and I know he'll look after her" He played with his ration pack awkwardly, as if he was gearing up to ask something. "What have you been doing anyway? Y'know, since Spain"?

"Not a lot" Leon shrugged. "I moved back to America shortly after you did. They wanted to put me in the President's team but I wanted something a bit more low profile" It was uncomfortable sitting so close to Chris. Their shoulders were almost touching and Leon could feel the older man's body heat. It did nothing to help Leon forget just how much he felt for the man sitting next to him. He swallowed hard. "Dennis is still working in Spain. We e-mail each other quite a bit. He asks after-"

"I admire you" Chris suddenly blurted, cutting Leon off. The interruption was so sudden and so unexpected that Leon wasn't sure he'd even heard him right. He looked up at him and Chris obviously understood as he repeated and elaborated. "I admire you for the way you dealt with Krauser back there…when he said all that stuff about you being gay…" He shrugged. "I dunno. You just make it seem so easy"

"It is easy" Leon said adamantly. "He was the one with the problem, not me. I guess it took me longer than it should've done to realise that" He stood up and stretched as much as he could within the cramped confines. "You should get some sleep now. I'll stay outside and keep watch and come get you in a couple of hours to take over. Ok"?

Chris nodded and Leon gently stepped over him, making for the doorway. Chris' next words were quiet and desperate. Even if he wanted to, Leon couldn't possibly have ignored him.

"Promise me we'll find Jill"

"We'll find Jill" Leon replied confidently before closing the shack's rickety door behind him. He sat down beside it, leaning his back against the cool wooden wall. He pulled his PDA out of his pocket and tapped away at it, looking for one of the games he'd downloaded but never gotten round to playing. It was going to be a long night.

"Get lost Claire…" Chris muttered. If there was one thing he hated, it was his stupid sister trying to wake him up when all he wanted to do was sleep. Before he'd moved into his own place it had happened with annoying frequency. He batted out at her and tried to roll over in what was the most uncomfortable bed he'd ever slept in.

"Get up you big oaf" Claire's strangely masculine voice demanded. Masculine? Chris opened his eyes and discovered two things. He wasn't in a bed and it wasn't Claire that was trying to wake him up. Leon was standing over him, shaking his shoulder incessantly. Chris groaned and remembered that he wasn't at home but in some rundown shack in the middle of the African marshlands. He sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Alright, alright. I'm up" He moaned, taking a proffered water bottle and sipping from it. Leon looked exhausted as he sat down.

"Your turn to keep watch" He said through a badly stifled yawn. "Didn't see anything. S'quiet out there…" He added as his head started to loll. Chris stood up and helped his sleepy partner into a laying position before leaving the shack.

The wooden boards of the tiny jetty creaked as he took each step. He wasn't entirely sure of the time but he guessed it was at least the middle of the night. The marshlands around the shack were deathly silent and after the noise and activity of the village, were actually quite relaxing. If he thought about it enough, he could easily go back to sleep…He shook his head and decided to remain standing up, at least until the tiredness passed over. He dug around in his pockets looking for something he could entertain himself with. Apart from his various supplies, which were all, decidedly functional, all he had in the various pockets of his combats was a penny, some chewing gum, a hell of a lot of lint and a crumpled photograph that he'd taken to carrying around with him. The photograph had been taken shortly before he'd gone to Spain. He and Jill had gone to France because she'd wanted to sample the culture and he'd wanted to try the cheese. They'd gotten over the terrible awkwardness of their break-up and had just had a great time as friends. The photo had been taken in the middle of a vineyard. Jill had eloquently asked a local to take it whilst they stood by the vines. Ever since Jill had gone missing, Chris had carried the photo around with him. He knew it sounded stupid but there was something about her celluloid smile that gave him hope of finding her.

He sighed heavily and leant against the shack. He looked in through the grimy, dirt-smeared window. Leon was laying on his side, deep in sleep. His hair had fallen over his face and his head was cradled in his right arm. Chris winced as he was hit with another horrible flashback of Leon lying in the hospital bed. He hadn't admitted it to anyone but he still had nightmares about what had happened in the Spanish facility. He'd lost count of the amount of times he'd woken up in a cold sweat, his mind full of images of Leon being gunned down by Wesker, his blood spreading across the floor. As he looked at him now he couldn't help but worry about the confrontations ahead of them. Wesker had made it plain that he didn't care whether Leon lived or died and in his experience when Wesker thought that lives were dispensable; those lives were usually dispensed with in the most brutal way imaginable. As he watched Leon turn over in his sleep he realised that he'd really missed him in the year they'd been apart. In the brief moments that his mind had drifted away from finding Jill, it had drifted to Leon. They'd swapped phone numbers and he'd lost count of the times he'd nearly called him only to hang up at the last minute. He found himself suddenly selfishly thinking what might've happened had he not been so fixated on finding Jill. Would he have maybe met up with Leon? He could easily imagine what they might've done. Grabbed a beer in a bar, maybe chilled out playing video games, got in a takeaway. He could see how they would've probably seen a lot more of each other. He wanted to see a lot more of Leon. Working with him again had made Chris realise how much he cared for him and how much he loved him.

Chris blinked, trying to backtrack his own thoughts. Loved? Where the hell had that come from? He looked at Leon once more and almost as if he'd been hit over the head, it all fell into place. Why he'd stayed in Spain, why he'd been so protective when Leon had suffered his albeit brief but worrying setback in his recovery. He should've seen it coming from a mile off but then emotions and feelings never were his strong point. He looked at Leon again and realised there and then that he cared for him a lot more than as a friend.

Feeling something like that for another man was definitely something that was an alien thought to him but, for some reason, it didn't feel at all strange. Chris turned away from the window and looked across the water. What did it all mean? Did it mean he was gay? Surely it couldn't. After all, he'd had relationships with women. Perhaps he was bisexual. He supposed that it made sense. He wondered if he should tell Leon but he quickly realised that a foreign country in the middle of a mission wasn't exactly the best time or place to tell your partner that you were attracted to them. This was going to have to be something that could wait, wait until they'd found Jill, got rid of Wesker and were safely back in America.

Chris looked up at the sky and saw a band of copper along the horizon. It was gradually lightening to gold as the early morning sun began to rise. He'd been so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realise that dawn was breaking.

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His brain was still dealing with and trying to process with the aftermath of his realisation when Leon woke up and joined him on the jetty.

"It looks like the village we're looking for is just over there," Leon said, pointing over at the horizon where the roofs of traditional mud huts could clearly be seen. The younger man turned to face him, one eyebrow raised quizzically. "Are you alright? You're looking at me strangely."

"Yeah, yeah…I'm fine." Chris replied hoping that he sounded convincing. Leon shrugged and checked his ammo. Chris watched him for the briefest of moments before checking his own gear. He was fighting his natural urge to just simply blurt out what he was feeling. It reminded him of his clumsy seduction of Jill. They'd been out at the movies and had been waiting for a train when he suddenly and impulsively turned to her on the platform and told her that he loved her. It had been clumsy and crude and although Jill had seemed to react well to it, he didn't want to make a similar mistake again. He knew that some blurted confession would never pass muster with someone who had such high standards as Leon.

"Did you sleep well"? He asked instead. It was a dumb question with a totally obvious answer but at least it was conversation.

"As well as I could on the floor of a shack" Leon answered. He was tapping away at his PDA again. "Let's get a move on," He continued, heading for the motorboat. Chris followed close behind, hoping that he would be able to keep his emotions in check and come up with a significant way of telling Leon how he felt.

The village was a mile or so down river from the small shack. It appeared to be a fairly small settlement nestled between the reeds and made largely from mud and clay. There were a few wooden huts dotted about as well. The whole place seemed so far from civilisation that it reminded Chris of a medieval village. Leon brought the boat to a stop and they clambered out, guns drawn; impossible to tell at this stage whether or not the village had been touched by Wesker's cruel and twisted hand.

As they entered the village, they could see basic wooden pens off to their left containing weak and bedraggled chickens that were obviously being neglected. To their right were three thick wooden posts of varying heights. Atop these posts were three exquisitely carved masks, lovingly coloured with natural pigments. More of these masks hung over the doorways of some of the wooden huts. The ground beneath their feet consisted of sun baked clay with patches of hay strewn haphazardly about. Chris approached one of the huts carefully. He stuck his head through the doorway to find it empty. The only things inside were some red clay pots and a bed made from hay.

"It's probably for the best that this place is deserted" Leon said. "I can't imagine the tribe would take kindly to a couple of Americans traipsing through what's probably their sacred ground" He consulted his trusty PDA once more. "Intelligence states that there's a possibility that Wesker's facility is located within the ruins of a nearby temple"

"Good thing we don't have to persuade the locals" Chris replied, relaxing a little. He watched as Leon checked a couple of the nearby huts; gun ever ready in case anyone decided to jump out on them. "How's the leg these days"? He asked when Leon emerged from the last hut.

"Fine" Leon said. "I stopped therapy about six months ago…" He stopped and appeared to listen hard. He frowned and readied his magnum. "I heard something" he explained when Chris looked at him. Leon was looking over at the next small group of huts. Then suddenly, Chris heard it too; the unmistakeable sound of footsteps. He grabbed his shotgun and the pair of them stood, waiting. The footsteps grew closer and closer until finally Chris spotted movement from behind one of the huts in front of them. Two tribesmen emerged, naked aside from dry, yellowed grass skirts and bone necklaces. It was immediately obvious that they were infected by looking at their pallid skin and dead eyes. The tribesmen saw them straight away, letting out a strangled war cry before advancing on them, arms raised menacingly.

"What the hell do they think they're gonna do against two guys with guns"? Chris scoffed, raising his shotgun. He fired off two shots, one after the other, hitting each tribesman directly in the head.

Instead of dropping to the floor like he expected the to, the tribesmen's heads stayed on their shoulders. They did however; raise their hands to their heads, acting as if they were in pain. Using this distraction to his advantage, Leon fired his handgun, dropping the pair of their knees. The tribesmen both screamed and Chris could only watch in horror as their bodies started to swell and undulate. Leon fired off more handgun rounds but the bullets had no effect.

"Not this again" Chris muttered, motioning for Leon to back off alongside him. The spines of the tribesmen were bursting through the flesh of their backs, arms morphing into fleshy lumps with long, thick teeth protruding from the ends. Their spines dropped from their bodies, the ribcage still attached along with a bloody lump of flesh that started to harden before their eyes to form some sort of tail. The screams stopped instantly as their heads collapsed in on themselves.

Chris opened fire as the monsters got back to their feet. They were no longer human from the waist up. Their torsos were now huge knobbly lumps of flesh. They stretched their club like arms wide, resembling a twisted Venus flytrap, the inside of which was full of yellow pus filled lumps. Chris recovered enough to fire off a few rounds at the lumps, causing the gruesome creatures to reel back. The blasts only stunned them for mere seconds before they started to advance once more. They were slow and, judging by the way they were ambling along, blind and working from sense of smell only. Chris saw Leon nod at him. He knew instantly what the younger man wanted. He watched as Leon took the left before following his lead and taking the right, circling around the two creatures. Leon quickly switched to his magnum.

"The tail"! He shouted, opening fire.

Chris followed suit, unloading bullets into the tail of the creature closest to him. Leon popped the tail of the other in three shots. Chris fired five shots before the other creature crumpled to the floor.

"Damn thing ate up half my ammo"! He moaned as he kicked the creature's body, making sure that it was dead. "Another one of Wesker's failed experiments" He spat, shaking his head. He fumbled in his combat pocket, grinning as he produced a pack of cigarettes. At least he hadn't left them in his backpack! He would've been pissed to lose them. He popped one out of the pack and stuck it in his mouth before searching for his lighter. He located it quickly and had just sparked the flame when he saw Leon's face. "What"? He asked, a mixture of skill and experience keeping the cigarette in place as he spoke.

"You're still on those"? Leon said.

"Thought you didn't care" Chris teased with a raised eyebrow. "Besides, they make me look cool"

"Fifteen year olds use that piece of self-justification" Leon replied with a look of mild disgust on his face. So Leon hated smoking…Chris resolved to give up as soon as he could but not before he'd had his last victory smoke…not that he was even sure why he cared what Leon thought of his smoking.

"Young at heart, that's me," He said as he lit up, taking the first delicious drag. Leon shook his head and reloaded his gun as Chris smoked. Chris heard the younger man sigh deeply before speaking once more.

"Give me a drag"

"After the shit you just gave me"? Chris said disbelievingly. "Afraid not Mr Kennedy" He took another deep drag. "You don't smoke anyway" He wagged his finger disapprovingly with his free hand. "It's a filthy habit lad and don't you start" He blew out an expert smoke ring. "Or do you just want to look as cool as me"?

"As a matter of fact I used to smoke" Leon replied snottily. "I'm a stress smoker," He added with a shrug. "But it doesn't come as a surprise that you don't know how to share" He teased. "It's just another one of your amazing qualities"

Chris rolled his eyes and took one last drag before offering the rest. Leon took a deep drag, closing his eyes for a moment before blowing the smoke out in a perfect smoke ring that could easily rival Chris'. Leon opened his eyes and smirked, dropping the cigarette and grinding it out with his left hiking trainer.

"Let's move on," He said with a sigh.

They moved onwards through the village, coming to a stop when they reached a large open plan hut, which looked like it could've been used to hold tribal meetings. There was a thick wooden pole in the centre, which obviously served to support the round, hay-topped roof. Attached to this pole, as some sort of macabre decoration, was the dead body of a tribesman. His body was intact and he'd been pinned to the pole by his throat with a vicious looking spear. His skin was the same grey colour of the previous two indicating that he'd been infected. Apart from the body there was no other sign of life.

Chris watched as Leon crouched by the body to examine the neck wound. His fingers brushed across the dead man's skin.

"Blood's clotted and dry," He said. "He's been here a while"

Chris however, was too distracted to reply. Out of the corner of his eye, he'd just spotted what was unmistakably a small group of zombies emerging from one of the nearby huts. They had, at one point, also belonged to the tribe but were now the mindless monsters that Chris remembered from the mansion.

"Leon"! He called out, nodding towards the zombies. Leon stood up and was by his side in an instant. They opened fire on the ringleader, aiming directly for its head. Their bullets hit the mark, exploding the ringleader's head in a mess of blood and gore. The skin of its face flapped forwards onto its chest and a huge worm-like creature burst upwards from its neck. Chris watched in horror as small centipede legs wriggled around, fruitlessly clawing at its shoulders and neck stump. The end of the worm opened up into a four lobed mouth and, with a horrible snapping sound, a tooth lined hole shot forward and proceeded to bite the heads off the tribesman zombies that were lumbering forwards.

The bodies fell slowly, none of them reacting to the sudden attack. The worm-like creature, done with its feast, turned its attentions to Leon.

"What the fuck is that thing"? Chris demanded, raising his shotgun. He'd seen some horrible, twisted, fucked up things back in the Spencer Mansion and in Antarctica but nothing like this.

"Looks like a Plagas creature" Leon called back, backing up. "It was in the reports we took from the Spanish facility," He explained.

Chris fired, sinking three shotgun rounds into the body of the creature. It continued its grim march forwards, unaffected and unperturbed by the shotgun shells. Leon raised his magnum and was about to fire when a huge, guttural roar rumbled across the village. A large, unidentifiable beast bounded out of nowhere. Its huge claws slashed through the neck of the worm-like Plagas creature and ripping open its torso.

It fell to the ground wetly, one of the dismembered zombies' heads sliding out of the tube-like neck in a mess of brownish yellow liquid that started to pool across the clay. The beast let out another roar, finally noticing Chris and Leon. Chris stared open-mouthed. It had a similar bone structure to a man but stood several feet taller. Its arms were outstretched, adorned with veined eighteen-inch claws.

As the beast stood before them, casting a huge shadow, a familiar sick feeling washed over Leon. It reminded him of being back in Raccoon City, facing off against Sherry's father, William Birkin, who'd been similarly deformed after injecting himself with the G Virus. As it roared, the beast's chest expanded to reveal its ribs between stretching bands of bright red flesh. Like Birkin, his chest and shoulders had become disproportionately large with bones extending out and upwards from the collarbones, stretching the blackened skin. Its neck was a tumorous mass and, on the right side, a yellowed inflamed eyeball was sliding around in an abnormal socket. Just like Birkin's had, its skull had mutated and changed shape so that it was larger. The skin however, hadn't followed suit so that it was torn and stretched where the jaw opened. Leon heard Chris open fire, shooting at the beast's legs in an attempt to bring it down. He recalled that Birkin's weakness had been his mutated eye. He grabbed his magnum and aimed, puncturing the eye with one shot.

They were forced to scatter as the beast started to charge forwards. Chris was still aiming at the beast's legs, switching to his handgun when he ran out of shotgun shells. As Leon rounded its back, he could see more eyes. He aimed for each one and popped them quickly. Under the pressure of his partner's relentless fire, the beast fell to its knees. Chris was beside him once more, using his handgun to fire at the eyes alongside him.

The beast let out a long sigh like a dead body expelling air and collapsed onto its front. Seizing the opportunity, they both reloaded and backed away quickly.

"I know I've said this before" Chris said breathlessly. "But what the fuck is THAT thing"? He wiped some of the sweat from his brow.

"It's not dead" Leon replied flatly. He felt as if he'd been sucked back into the nightmare of Raccoon City and all that it had entailed. It reminded him painfully of Sherry. He saw Chris open his mouth to reply but was distracted as the beast started to move once more. Its whole body began to convulse as its abdominal flesh started to tear. With a sickening crack, its ribs parted, spraying the ground with blood. Leon felt drops of it land on his face. Two new arms, wet and foetal, emerged from underneath the ribs, unfurling as if they'd been trapped within its insides. They grew rapidly, becoming full size within seconds. Its legs were bulging, the flesh undulating as the wounds from Chris' shots healed themselves.

They opened fire once more but, as Leon expected, it seemed largely unaffected as it rose to its feet. It spread its new arms wide and let out its loudest roar yet, spraying them both with a liberal amount of spit. They continued firing, tearing holes in the beast's face and chest as it advanced menacingly upon them. Leon's magnum clicked empty. He muttered a curse and holstered it, out of ammo. He backed away quicker, looking frantically around the village for a new solution.

Just to his left he caught sight of a hut encircled by thick wooden stakes. He needed to move quickly if he was going to pull his idea off. The beast's focus had turned to Chris who was still firing at it. It was his perfect chance and he had to take it. He grabbed a nearby spear and threw it as hard as he could. It hit the beast directly in the middle of its vast back making Leon grateful, possibly for the first time in his life, that his high school athletics coach had pushed him so hard. The beast turned around and Leon bolted for the stakes, positioning himself in front of them as it started to charge at him.

"Come on you fucker" He muttered.

He saw Chris drop quickly into a crouching shooter's stance and start shooting at the backs of the beast's knees. It stumbled forwards and Leon rolled out of its way as it crashed headlong into the hut. Leon stayed on the dusty floor, arms over his head to protect himself from the shower of falling splinters. As soon as it was safe, he sat up and saw that the beast had, just as he'd planned, impaled itself. The three wooden stakes penetrated its chest and abdomen. It struggled against the stakes gasping and screaming as its blood leaked from its wounds. Leon watched in a mixture of sheer horror and disbelief as Chris suddenly charged forwards and dived underneath the beast.

"What the hell are you doing"? He shouted as he watched Chris jam his gun and whole forearm into the beast's torn stomach and punched upwards, emptying an entire clip into its insides. Leon saw the bullets spray outwards from its neck and face. It slumped further onto the stakes, expelling blood and stinking, foul liquid. Chris rolled out from underneath and got to his feet. His hair, face and BSAA uniform were covered in pus and guts. He shook his right arm, sending the foul stuff flying. It landed with a sticky splat inches away from Leon's hiking trainers. He then wiped his sticky handgun down the leg of his combats and holstered it. Leon had never seen anything so disgusting in his life. He expected Chris to grin in that self-satisfied way that he had and come out with some kind of witty comment that would make any action hero of the Eighties seem as eloquent as Oscar Wilde.

It came as a surprise therefore when Chris glared coldly at him and grabbed his arm, squeezing it tightly in a grip that seemed designed to hurt.

"Don't ever act as bait again" He spat, releasing him as quickly as he'd grabbed him, leaving Leon feeling somewhat taken aback. He was about to justify his actions but it seemed like the onslaught of attackers was not yet over. Another group of tribesmen had spilled out of a hut in the distance. "I get the impression we're being played with" Chris said, his voice back to normal now. "And I don't know about you but I used the last of my ammo on Mr Ugly Asshat back there" He added, nodding towards the beast's prone body.

"I'm out too" Leon replied. The tribesmen were getting closer. It looked as if they were just run of the mill zombies but judging by the way the others had suddenly mutated, they couldn't be too careful.

One them suddenly leapt forwards, almost knocking Chris to the floor. Chris responded in kind, delivering a strong right hook, which any boxer would've been proud of. As the tribesman reeled back from the punch, Chris used this to his advantage, sweeping his attacker's legs expertly. The zombie fell to the floor with a wail and Chris was on top on him in instant, raining blows with the expertise of someone who could, and probably had, held his own in a bar brawl.

Leon had his own problems. A pair of them headed towards him, growling and spitting like rabid dogs. One of them lunged for him clumsily. Leon dodged round him and grabbed one of his flailing arms, twisting it with all his strength until he heard the tell-tale snap. The tribesman fell to the ground, roaring in pain. Leon grabbed another nearby spear and stuck it in his fallen attacker's head. The other tribesman seized the opportunity and leapt onto his back, nearly bringing him to his knees with the sudden weight. Leon grabbed its shoulders and pulled it over his head. The tribesman crashed to the floor and Leon took hold of its tribal necklace, choking him until he went limp. He barely had time to think before another one was on him. It knocked him to the floor and stood over him gloatingly. Leon kicked out, his sturdy hiking trainer making contact with the tribesman's stomach. He grabbed the spear and used the momentum of his kick to flip the tribesman over his head. He leapt to his feet and shoved the spear into its gut, twisting it as hard as he could. He looked over his shoulder to see Chris stamp on his original attacker's head. Their eyes met, waiting for the next attack. When nothing came, they breathed out heavily.

"You alright?" Leon asked breathlessly.

"Peachy" Chris replied, wiping his sweaty brow and offering him a cheesy grin. "Any idea where we go now"?

"There should be a cave nearby". Leon answered, looking towards the end of the village. He could see a large wooden gate. "That'll be the way out" He said confidently.

"Great" Chris said. "But before we do that, check this out" He nodded towards the nearest hut where a large metal box was sitting next to the doorway. "I noticed it while Mr Tribesman was trying to get all up in my grill"

"All up in your what"? Leon frowned. He didn't know whether to laugh or just be simply confused. It was quite endearing, the way Chris talked like a fifteen year old sometimes. It was certainly a welcome distraction given the current circumstances.

"Oh Leon, I have so much to teach you"! Chris said with the manner of someone who was extremely world-weary.

"Oh really"? Leon raised an eyebrow. This should be good. "And here I was thinking you have a lot to learn about hand to hand combat given the way you pretty much had a bar room brawl with one zombie whilst I took three of them out"

"You looked like you needed the practice" Chris replied simply although he did look a little sheepish. "Anyway, check out this box. It doesn't look like something you'd see lying around a place like this" He gave it a swift kick and stood ready to attack as it opened. When nothing jumped out, he ventured forwards to have a look in it. "AMMO"! He crowed loudly.

"Ammo"? Leon frowned, instantly suspicious. Chris' earlier comment had gotten him thinking. What if they were in the middle of some sort of twisted game? He didn't know Albert Wesker very well but he certainly wouldn't put it past him to play with his prey before he pounced. Leon sighed heavily and went over the box as Chris started to reload his handgun and shotgun.

"There's magnum ammo in there too" Chris added as Leon approached. "I know you're not gonna trust this but it's all we've got"

"You're right" Leon conceded. As much as he hated it when Chris was right, he had to agree. They had no other obvious options and they needed to reload. He delved into the box and stocked up on both handgun and magnum ammo. At the bottom of the box, slightly rusted and bent was a pair of dog tags. Leon picked them up and examined them closely. "Well…" He said, showing them to Chris. "Looks like Krauser loved us after all" He tossed the dog tags back into the box. It made him feel a little better that they'd found what was obviously Krauser's personal stash but it still seemed a little odd that the ammo was the correct ammo for their guns.

As soon as they were reloaded and ready, they ran for the large wooden gate, all the while keeping an eye out for any stragglers who might attack them. It was whilst looking out for attackers that Leon noticed security cameras hidden in ornaments and masks. Some of the huts also seemed to have electronic locks on them. He realised, with a sinking feeling that the likelihood of them being involved in a game was getting more and more likely. What they'd just experienced had obviously been some sort of arena-like test. He glanced over at Chris who didn't seem to have noticed. It was probably best that he keep his revelations from the older man. He was worried enough as it was.

They reached the gate and, unsurprisingly for Leon, it was unlocked. It opened easily to reveal a rocky tunnel that obviously led to the cave they were looking for. As they stepped inside, they heard a horrible groaning and slurping noise coming from behind them. The beast was suddenly yards away, mutating yet again into an even bigger mass of eyeballs, teeth and tentacles. It lurched towards them on four jointed tentacles.

"Wow, they really make these bastards to last" Chris said sardonically as they bolted down the rocky tunnel.

They both stumbled as they stepped on what looked like a man-made panel. There was an unmistakeable sound of weights shifting behind the walls. Behind them the beast was screeching as it pulled itself along, blood and fluid pattering on the rocks as it moved. Leon could see a large stone door in front of them, probably at least a metre thick. It started to drop downwards, creating a rumbling sound that echoed loudly around the enclosed space. A tentacle whipped around his back and he cried out at the sudden pain. He felt Chris' strong hands grip his arm, spurring him to move faster. He pumped his legs harder and harder as the beast got closer and closer. Together, he and Chris dived forwards, landing under the rapidly closing door with such force that it almost winded them. They scrabbled forward, closely followed by the beast, which tried to squeeze its bulbous mass through the increasingly small gap. Tentacles lashed at their legs as they scrambled away.

As the door continued to press downwards, the tentacles whipped themselves into a frenzy, one of them narrowly missing Leon. Chris was in front of him in seconds, using his massive bulk to shield him. Over Chris' shoulder, Leon could see one of the beast's mutated eyes burst under the pressure from the door, spewing a yellow viscous fluid. Its body finally gave in too; splitting and bursting like a ripe orange that had been stepped on.

Even though the beast was so obviously dead, Chris continued to hold onto Leon, squashing him against his chest. It wasn't at all an unpleasant feeling and did nothing to extinguish his feelings for the older man. He could feel Chris' breath tickling his scalp and ruffling his hair and he was held so tightly against his massive chest he could hear his heartbeat.

"Chris"? Chris didn't respond. "Chris…let go." He said with some reluctance. Instantly Chris' arms released him. Leon backed off, feeling a blush creep across his cheeks; he searched for his PDA, checking nothing in particular until he felt calm enough to look up. Chris was staring at the beast's dead body.

"It's finally dead." He said quietly, kicking at one of the limp tentacles. He sounded somewhat like a lost little kid and Leon would've given anything to know what he was thinking.

"Yeah…" was all he replied. He looked further down the tunnel and could see that it opened out into what looked like a large cavern. A row of bulbs built into the tunnel's ceiling lit their way, power lines sagging between each connection. Wordlessly, they moved further down the passage, Leon's heart thumping in his chest. They'd barely had a chance to breathe since they'd arrived at the tribal village and he could feel the adrenaline starting to wear off. He looked over at Chris who was striding purposefully ahead down the tunnel. They needed to find Jill and soon.

END OF CHAPTER FOUR


	5. Chapter 5

The Facility Revisited – Chapter Five

The tunnel suddenly ended at a wooden ladder, which on closer inspection was propped up against the lip of an eight-foot drop. Leon followed as Chris climbed the ladder first. It led to a natural stone bridge that spanned the length of the cavern. The bridge's arch seemed to have been formed by an ancient flow of water that had long since dried up. At the other side of the bridge, Leon could see more tunnels stretching off into the distance, honeycombing the rock. The on-going network of bulbs lighted up only one of these passages. Chris marched across the bridge and headed for the lit tunnel automatically.

As they made their way along the damp smelling tunnel, Leon couldn't help but realise just how much things had changed between them in what was a relatively short amount of time. Just over a year ago, he would've positively welcomed this sort of silence from Chris. Now that same silence felt horrible. He wasn't stupid. He knew that Chris was in pain and worried about Jill and all he wanted to do was just reach out and help him. The problem was, he'd separated himself from human contact for so long, he wasn't even sure he knew how to anymore. There was a tiny little part of him that longed for Chris to care about him as much as he obviously cared about Jill.

The tunnel ended abruptly with an old rusty service lift, almost like the sort of lift you'd usually find in a mineshaft.

"After you" Leon said when Chris appeared to hesitate. A brief smile crossed the older man's features but it disappeared quickly and he made no attempt to move. "What's up"?

"I was thinking" He replied. "Don't you think that this has all been a bit too easy"? Chris asked, leaning against the rocky wall. It was the first time that Leon had noticed but his partner looked utterly exhausted. His face and hair were streaked with sweat and blood, his skin greasy and dirty. His hair had lost its style, his messy spikes flopping onto his forehead. His BSAA uniform was spattered with the blood and guts of the various creatures they'd encountered.

"You call all of that back there easy"? Leon replied incredulously in an attempt to lighten the mood. He didn't want Chris going into these particular thoughts too much.

"I mean the ammo," Chris answered seriously. "And the fact that this place is all lit up like a Christmas tree for us" He took his water bottle from his hip pack and sipped. "I guess I'm just a little bit suspicious" He sighed heavily. "Wesker plays games. He always has done," He added darkly.

"We're careful" Leon replied reassuringly. Chris was echoing his own fears but he couldn't let him partner know this. "It's not like we're going into this blind. I know what he's capable of now" He unconsciously ran a hand over his stomach. He saw Chris' eyes lock onto it as well before looking away quickly and suddenly showing an interest into the workings of the lift. Leon would've never admitted it to anyone, not even Dennis, but since their meeting with Wesker in Spain, he'd suffered terrible nightmares and flashbacks. Over and over again his taunting mind would plague him at night, replaying the brutal blows Wesker had rained down on Chris. He felt sick at the thought.

After a quick look over the lift, Chris decided that everything seemed to be in order. They'd be no good to Jill if they both suddenly plummeted to their deaths. He felt incredibly wary and helpless at the same time. Once again he was caught up in another one of Wesker's crazed games and he was powerless to stop it, locked in by his drive to protect. First Jill, Barry and Rebecca, then his beloved little sister followed by Jill once more. His greatest fear now, coupled with the terrifying possibility of Jill's death was that Leon would be next. The fear made him tense and edgy and it was becoming harder to hide from the younger man. The way he'd rubbed his hand across his stomach made him remember the events he'd fought so hard to block out. He jumped, startled, as he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Leon.

"Ready"? He asked, nodding towards the lift.

"Yeah" He replied. He followed Leon into the lift and leant against the wall as his partner pressed the button to make it descend. Leon then produced his PDA and started tapping away at it once more. He cursed after a few seconds.

"Damn battery's dead" He muttered. This presented a wonderful opportunity to lighten the mood and Chris decided to grab it with both hands.

"Guess you shoulda charged it huh"? He said teasingly. Leon put it back in his pocket and pulled a pained face.

"Do you remember when we first met-" He snarled good-naturedly. It looked as if he appreciated the sudden change in mood, which made Chris all the more, determined to hang onto it.

"And you were a total asshole"? He offered by way of interruption. "I have a vague recollection-"

"Recollection? Really?" Leon counter-interrupted. "That's an awfully large word for someone like you" He spat haughtily. Chris simply smirked and flexed his muscles teasingly.

"I can show you something else that's awfully large," He said suggestively, one eyebrow raised.

"Don't," Leon replied coolly. His smile faded and he looked a little annoyed. He leant against the opposite wall, looking disgusted.

"Would it really be that terrible"? Chris asked, trying to keep his voice light and melodious though deep down he was actually kind of hurt. He'd always thought of himself as a rather attractive specimen and it bugged him that Leon didn't seem to think so. It also didn't exactly give him the best hope of actually acting on his feelings.

"Probably." Leon answered as the lift came to a stop. Chris shrugged and readied his handgun, following Leon into yet another tunnel that was lit with glowing amber lamps sitting on the ground along the walls. They followed it along cautiously, astonished when it opened out into a huge cave.

Chris stared around the room in bewilderment. What looked like a huge stone temple was cut into the rock wall at the opposite end of a huge chasm. A large mechanical bridge sat in the gap, split open with both halves pointing upwards. To their left was a ladder that led to a scaffold gantry running around the perimeter of the room, ending at a small maintenance cabin to their right. There was a bunch of power lines running from it towards the bridge. Huge lamps shone amber light down from the darkness above.

"Looks like the only way to get power to the bridge is to head for that cabin" Leon said. "Cover me and I'll check it out"

Chris nodded and kept watch as Leon walked over to the cabin. That horrible, wary, edgy feeling was still following him. It took him back to the Spencer Mansion and Spain once again. He wondered briefly if he would ever be free of those memories.

"Door's jammed" Leon was at his side once more. "We can get in through the ceiling though if we get up to the scaffolding"

"Let's go" Chris replied. "I'll watch your back."

They ran for the ladder, Chris pushing Leon up as they reached it. As Leon stared to haul himself up, a sickening chorus of hisses followed by ticking and clicking noises rose up from the black depths of the chasm. Chris trained his gun on the chasm's edge as a sinewy clawed hand gripped the edge, slowly hauling up a creature that seemed to be all claws and glistening red muscles. Chris hurried up the ladder at the sight of it. More creatures followed the first. He watched as the first one suddenly squatted, hunching up as it coiled its exposed leg muscles. It sprung at the ladder, smashing the bottom of it with one muscular arm, just as Chris reached the top.

"Leon! We've got monsters"! He called as the writhing mass of creatures continued to swipe at the ladder below them.

"Lickers…" Leon replied darkly, looking over the edge of the scaffolding. The expression on his face said that he knew a lot more but didn't want to go into it. Chris could fully understand why. The creatures were horrible quadruped monsters, glistening with a clear filmy substance. The brain of each creature was exposed along with its muscles and spine. Their jaws were open, showing stretched skin and rows of large jagged teeth. What creeped Chris out the most was the fact that none of them appeared to have eyes.

The lead one snarled and its huge, elongated tongue lashed out, denting a pipe halfway up

The ladder, scratching some of the dull red paint off. It reached out for the ladder, starting to slowly climb up, using its bone claws as rudimentary fingers. The others, in typical pack mentality, began to follow suit. Leon opened fire on the first one, his bullet lodging in its brain, dropping it off the ladder. Chris felt Leon's hand close around his forearm and they were running, across the gantry as the Lickers started to reach the top of the ladder. The gantry took them past the stone face of the temple, lit brightly with halogen floodlights.

"Go for the cabin" Chris ordered, turning to shoot the oncoming clan.

"Cover me?" Leon said as he started to make a run for it.

"Always."

Leon ran off and Chris fired at the herd, quickly picking them off as they advanced. He backed into the nearest corner and watched in amazement as a Licker started to rear up at Leon, only for Leon to hurdle over it expertly, leaving it to uppercut thin air. Chris managed to pick a couple more off before his handgun clicked empty. He started to reload but one of the Lickers suddenly leapt forward, blood dripping from a facial wound. Chris stepped sideways and punched the creature hard in the jaw. He heard a crunch as its jaw snapped and the Licker shuddered, stunned. Chris used this opportunity to reload and fire straight into its brain, just as Leon had done.

The ground below his feet shook as a loud creaking noise filled the whole room, as the bridge started to close. The two halves moved into position, providing a path to the ruin ahead. Chris finished off the rest of the pack of Lickers and headed back to the ladder. When he got to the bottom he saw Leon coming out of the door to the cabin. They met up in the middle and ran along the bridge. A huge steel door blocked entry to the temple, obviously not part of the worshipper's original architecture. As they approached it, it slid open, revealing another cavernous chamber.

0000000000000

The first thing that Leon noticed when they walked into the chamber was the woman who was crumpled over in the middle of the grey stone floor. She was on her knees, struggling to get up. She was dressed in a long red dress embroidered with a black butterfly design. Her thin, pale arms were streaked with fresh blood and wrapped around her abdomen from where she appeared to be bleeding profusely. Leon holstered his gun and frowned. He knew that he recognised this woman from somewhere…

"I fucking knew it…" Chris' harsh sounding voice came from behind him. In seconds Chris had pushed him aside and was striding towards her, gun still raised. "You were helping him all along weren't you"? He spat.

She looked up and Leon suddenly remembered where it was that he'd seen before.

"Ada"?

She looked at him upon hearing her name. What the hell was she doing in Africa? Wasn't she just some random woman he'd picked up in a bar? Obviously not. He continued to stare at her, waiting for some kind of explanation.

"Leon…" She said weakly. "I'm sorry…I didn't…mean to use you like that…"

"Bullshit" Chris cut her off harshly. His gun was almost pressed to her temple. "Of course you fucking meant to use him! Why pretend you didn't? We're sure as hell not going to help you now"!

"What are you talking about"? Leon demanded, looking at the both of them. He was utterly baffled. He was getting the impression that something had happened back in Spain whilst he'd been locked in the bathroom on that disastrous night he'd brought Ada home. "Will someone please explain"?

"Back in Spain" Chris started. "You took her home. Whilst you were holed up in the bathroom I caught her snooping around and messing about on your laptop. I let her go and gave her the benefit of the doubt. Looks like I made a big fucking mistake there" He growled. He dug his gun into her temple. "You stole that USB didn't you bitch? And I know you did that for Wesker" He gripped her hair hard. "So come on. Where the fuck is he? Where the fuck is Jill"?

"I thought I could trust him" Ada replied. She looked defiant despite the fact that Chris was obviously hurting her. "That I could…share his wealth…his power"

"Yeah well that really worked out for you didn't it"? Chris snarled. "Now where the fuck is he"?

"I was just a pawn…it's all a game for him…" Ada said. She shuddered in pain as more blood stained her dress. Leon ran over, pulling Chris' gun away from her temple and forcing him to release his grip on her hair. She was obviously in so much pain that Chris' bullish attitude was going to get them nowhere. Chris tried to protest but Leon shook his head. He got down on one knee and turned his attentions to her.

"What did he do to you"? Leon asked her gently and calmly. Chris threw his hands up in the air in frustration and stalked away from them. It was obvious bugging him that Leon could still show some concern for someone who'd managed to screw him over.

"Why do you even fucking care"? He demanded angrily.

"Because she's no use to us if she's dead" Leon snapped. He knew that he couldn't trust Ada but they were more likely to get the answers they wanted if they did things his way.

"He said…I was of no use" She said, struggling. "He injected me…"

"Then you're already dead" Chris spat harshly. He was pacing back and forth now, checking and re-checking his gun over and over again, obviously working himself up. "We're wasting time here…" He continued in a bored voice.

"The woman you're looking for...Jill…she's-" Ada gasped out as she started to cough violently. Chris ran forward and grabbed her, pushing Leon out of the way. He grabbed her shoulders and started to shake her hard.

"What? Jill's what"? He asked, sounding desperate. Ada's eyes opened wide and her head tipped back. She opened her mouth wide and blood suddenly spewed from it. Chris let her go suddenly and pushed her away. He yanked Leon to his feet and hauled him away from her writhing body. A sound like someone cracking their knuckles ricocheted off the walls as Ada bucked wildly, her dress starting to rip and tear. Her pale, exposed skin started to break too, her bones expanding and puncturing it. She let out a gut-wrenching howl of pain as her slim white shoulder split open, the skin widening to allow a wet orange orb to emerge. An eye that instantly seemed to fix on Leon.

"Shoot her before she stops mutating"! Chris shouted, opening fire. Leon used his magnum, both of them emptying magazines into the squirming, writhing mass that had once been Ada. Leon heard Chris click empty before switching to his shotgun. He moved closer, blasting rounds at almost point blank range.

"Stop"! Leon ordered. He ceased fire and Chris did the same. Ada's body was lying prone now, no longer mutating or even appearing to be breathing. The punctured and collapsed eye stared at them, blank and unseeing. She was dead. Breathing heavily, Chris and Leon started to reload their weapons. A slow clapping suddenly broke the silence.

Leon looked up and saw Albert Wesker standing at the centre of a small balcony at the back of the room. There was a set of stone steps at either side of it. Wesker was standing in the middle, clapping slowly as if he'd just witnessed a particularly amusing stage play. To him, that was probably exactly what it was. Leon felt every muscle in his body tense up.

"Why Mr Kennedy" Wesker said in an almost conversational tone. "You're still alive"! He smirked as he spoke, looking down on the them in lordly fashion, his eyes hidden behind his dark sunglasses.

"What are you talking about you mad bastard? You know he survived! You sent your little whore to steal the USB off him"! Chris shouted, his shotgun aimed at Wesker's head, his hands trembling with rage.

"Christopher! Always a pleasure." Wesker smirked once more as he strolled across the balcony, one gloved hand stroking the stone, his black boots tapping rhythmically on the floor. Leon looked over at Chris and could see the tension in his partner's body. He was frowning, glaring up at Wesker with what could only be described as pure hatred. Sweat was beginning to gather on his forehead. "You are, possibly for the first time in your life, entirely correct. Ada was most useful. At least for a brief period-"

"Until you disposed of her"! Chris interrupted, motioning towards Ada's dead body. "Now stop fucking with us and tell us where Jill is"!

"Ah, Miss Valentine" Wesker continued irritatingly as he paced. Leon felt his own hatred stab at his stomach. Chris was getting more and more wound up and it was making Leon want to charge forward and unleash every last bit of his energy onto the cruel man. "The whole reason you're here, is she not"?

"I've had enough of your bullshit"! Chris roared. He fired the shotgun but Wesker dodged it with ease using what Leon deemed to be super-human speed. It figured, Leon supposed, that if the guy was messing around with viruses, there was no reason why he wouldn't inject himself with the very best of his findings.

"Now, now Chris" Wesker chided, shaking his head and wagging a finger like you would at a naughty child. "You should know better than that. Did our meeting in Antarctica not teach you anything"?

"Just tell us where she is," Leon demanded, trying to push away his feelings of fear and intimidation. Wesker had very nearly killed him in Spain and Leon had realised just how much he was capable of and how dispensable he deemed human lives to be.

"Well since you asked so nicely…" Wesker raised his left arm slowly and clicked his fingers. A metal door behind him slid open and two tribesmen appeared. Between them, held in an arm lock, was a woman dressed in a grubby formless grey sweater and matching sweatpants. Her long brown hair was tied back and her face was pale and drawn. She didn't struggle at all, almost as if she'd learnt it was fruitless long ago. Either that or she was just too exhausted to fight anymore.

"Jill…" All of the anger in Chris' voice seemed to have melted away. Leon turned to see him looking up at Jill, an intensely worried expression fixed on his face. At the sound of her name, she looked up.

"Chris"! She gasped out. Wesker smirked, seemingly enjoying every moment as if unfolded.

"A happy reunion"! He said mockingly. He clicked his fingers again and the two tribesmen released Jill. She stumbled slightly, suddenly having to support her own weight. The tribesmen disappeared through the door. Chris and Jill were looking at each other, Chris in relief, Jill in disbelief. Wesker looked as if he was truly enjoying it. Leon however, felt confused. Wesker seemed to be playing some sort of game and it was hard to judge his next move…

Chris stared up at the balcony above, barely able to believe what he was seeing. After a year or worrying and searching, Jill was finally mere metres away and looking relatively unscathed. He no longer cared what Wesker's stupid game was. All he cared about was getting to Jill and making sure she was alright. He started to rush forward, stopping immediately when Wesker quickly grabbed her by the hair. She fell to her knees and he hauled her up brutally. He released her hair and frogmarched her down one of the staircases. Chris felt every single one of his muscles tense up, fear gnawing away at his gut.

"Don't you dare hurt her?" He snarled as Wesker stopped a couple of metres in front of them.

"Oh, I don't intend to" Wesker intoned, still wearing that self-satisfied smirk that Chris was so used to. Every fibre of his being ached to attack him, to finish things once and for all and make the evil monster pay. But he couldn't, he couldn't risk getting Jill hurt. "You know me Chris, always keeping busy with my work. But you needn't worry. I haven't infected the lovely Miss Valentine, as tempting as it was. There would be some sort of poetic justice don't you think? Surviving the horrors of the Spencer Mansion only to end up as a mindless zombie herself"? Wesker chuckled as if he'd made a particularly witty joke before he continued. "But that sort of thing is very much below me. But listen to me, waffling such irrelevant nonsense when what we really need to discuss is the white elephant in the room"

Chris glared at his former captain, utterly confused. It wasn't until Wesker's shaded gaze turned to Leon that Chris understood. He felt the blood in his veins turn to ice.

"Terribly sorry to have ignored you Mr Kennedy" Wesker crooned. "It must be difficult for you, feeling so out of place. We all have something in common whereas you, sadly, have little to no connection. Of course, you did survive the horrors of Raccoon City but it is of little consequence. I have no personal interest if your life which is why you shall help me provide a demonstration of one of my particular favourite accomplishments" Without warning, Wesker shoved Jill hard, forcing Chris to catch her. Chris wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. Wesker turned on his heel, stalking back up the stairs. When he reached the top, he turned his attentions back to Leon.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing, I promise you that if you do anything to him, I'll tear your heart out with my bare hands" Chris snarled threateningly.

"Quiet Christopher" Wesker replied. He held up his right hand and made a gripping motion. Leon let out a cry of pain and clutched his abdomen, violently winching as if something was writhing around inside of him. "Excellent" Wesker continued triumphantly. "I knew my own creation would surpass the skills of even the finest surgeon" He made a big show of looking at his watch. "I would explain further but sadly I'm out of time" He gave Chris one last smirk before leaving through the door, chuckling as he went.

"Leon"! Chris let go of Jill and hurried over to Leon who was hunched over, coughing and retching. Chris felt the panic rising, unsure of what to do. He tried to reach out for Leon to touch him but Leon suddenly grabbed his wrist. In less than a second, the younger man twisted Chris' arm up behind his back and pushed him away with what seemed to be a very unnatural strength.

Chris hit the stone floor, landing heavily on his side, feeling winded. He could only watch in horror as Leon leapt towards Jill, wrapping his hands around her neck tightly. Jill kicked out and struggled but Leon didn't seem to notice. Chris hauled himself to his feet, staggering a little as he forced himself to breathe properly. His side screamed in pain but he pushed his body onwards.

"Leon, what are you doing"? He said as Jill continued to struggle in Leon's tight grip, her breath coming in choked gasps as her face started to go red. "Leon please"! Chris' voice was getting desperate. What the hell had Wesker done to him? Jill's lips were turning blue. He needed to stop Leon and fast but there was no way in hell that he could possibly hurt him. "Whatever he's done to you, fight it"! He urged. "Please! Don't make me hurt you"! He pleaded. He could feel himself really starting to panic now. He knew that this was exactly what Wesker wanted, for him to have to deal with his two partners fighting it out. Did Wesker want him to choose? To kill Leon or let Jill die? He knew he couldn't do either.

He saw Jill kick out again, finally making contact with Leon's crotch. Leon released her instantly, staggering backwards, clutching his crotch. Jill seized the opportunity and swept his legs. Leon crashed to the floor hard.

"Stop it"! Chris ordered.

"Chris, he's dangerous"! Jill replied. "He's infected"! He said, advancing on Leon once more. She wasn't armed but Chris knew just how proficient she was at hand-to-hand combat.

"I know! I know! Just please don't hurt him"! Chris begged. He ran over to Leon who was now curled up in the foetal position, groaning softly. He gingerly put a hand on Leon's shoulder.

"Leon"? He said gently. He could feel himself shaking and wondered if Leon could feel it too.

"That kick…was certainly something…" Leon replied through gritted teeth. "What happened"?

"You attacked me," Jill answered, kneeling down beside Chris, her arm snaking around his waist. Chris relaxed into her gratefully. Leon seemed to be back to his normal self. He stayed curled up, obviously still in pain from the assault on his genitals.

"Wesker's infected me"?

"Looks like it" Jill said gently. "But I don't understand it. You're not mutating like the others but he still seemed to have control over your actions"

Chris unwound himself from Jill and helped get Leon into a sitting position keeping hold of his shoulders, partly to support him, partly to reassure himself that Leon was alright again. At least for now.

Leon shook his head in an attempt to clear it, trying his best to ignore the pain in his groin. He felt very aware of Chris' hands on his shoulders. Jill was looking at him in a concerned way. He felt as if he'd just woken up from a long sleep and wasn't quite sure what was what. The last thing he remembered was looking at Wesker before getting the overwhelming urge to wrap his hands around Jill's throat. He had a rough idea of what he was infected with from reading the reports on the USB. His actions and his inability to control them matched up perfectly with the effects of the Plagas virus. It would grow within him and the bigger it got, the less control he would have. Eventually he would become a mindless zombie. The thought scared him to death but he knew there was no use in losing his head now. His intense training and taught him that he needed to approach each situation with logic. Logically if there was a virus, there would be a cure. The trouble would be finding it before time ran out. Not that he was going to tell Chris any of this. His partner had only just been reunited with Jill. Leon couldn't and wouldn't put him through any sort of worry. The best thing to do would be to play dumb.

"What I don't get is how Wesker's infected him," Chris was saying. Leon became acutely aware of the fact that Chris and Jill were talking over his head. Chris was still holding onto his shoulders. The older man had a point though. That was the one part of it that Leon didn't understand. How the hell had Wesker managed to infect him? He'd only met the man twice and both times he hadn't been close enough for Wesker to inject him with something. Unless, of course, there was another way…

"I think I have an idea" He heard Jill reply. "Wesker wasn't exactly quiet about his plans whilst he kept me in captivity. He's developing bullets that fire embryos of a virus called Plagas into his enemies, turning them to his cause" She explained.

"He shot Leon back in Spain" Chris said darkly.

"There's a flaw in the plan" Jill continued. "He can only control the Plagas embryo when he's within a certain distance."

"Which is probably how Leon managed to fight it" Chris mused.

"Exactly" Jill nodded. "Wesker's got a research lab out in Antarctica which includes research in anti-viruses. That'd be your best chance of getting a cure or finding a way to kill the embryo. It's just, if the embryo has started to develop, it might be beyond what an anti-gen can do…so there's gotta be another way to…remove it."

"Antarctica"? Chris' tone of voice changed again, his grip on Leon's shoulders getting even tighter. He was going to have bruises there. "Do you think he's rebuilt the facility I destroyed in ninety-eight"?

"Listen guys" Leon finally interrupted; he pushed Chris' hands off his shoulders and got to his feet, the pain in his groin now only a dull ache. "Will you stop talking about me like I'm already dead"? He said it lightly, intending it to be a joke. Judging by the dark expression on Chris' face, it hadn't been received as such.

"Don't even joke about that." The older man warned. Leon shrugged. He had to joke about it, if he didn't he might very well start to freak out.

"We'll deal with whatever happens when we face it" Leon replied. "You two haven't seen each other for over a year. You could at least act like you're pleased to see each other before talking business"

"He's right" Jill was smiling. There were unshed tears glistening in her eyes. "It's so good to see you again," She said, her voice cracking. In seconds Chris was on her, his arms wrapped around her small waist, crushing her slim frame against his bulk.

"I knew you weren't dead," He mumbled into her shoulder.

Leon smiled at the reunion but also felt a little uncomfortable as if he were a voyeur on a private moment between a couple. He shifted awkwardly from one foot to another as Chris and Jill continued to speak, words muffled by their crushing embrace. He cleared his throat.

"I'm gonna leave you guys to catch up and check out the rest of this room" He said awkwardly. The room wasn't that big and there wasn't that much to examine. He supposed he could at least check out the balcony or the door for booby traps.

"You don't need to" Chris replied, finally moving his head off Jill's shoulder. Leon shook his head.

"It's fine, just enjoy the moment"

It was Jill who broke the hug first, smiling and wiping the tears from her eyes as she did so. Chris wanted to hold on to her longer, just to reassure himself that she really was there and that she really was alright. It felt like the past year of his life had been working towards this moment and now that it was here he wanted to hang onto it for as long as possible.

"I'm fine Chris" Jill said with her reassuring smile. Chris wasn't wholly convinced. Jill had always been on the slim side but her year in captivity had rendered her even slimmer. There were dark circles under her eyes and her skin was pale and greasy.

"I never gave up on you, you know that?" Chris replied adamantly.

"Of course you didn't" Jill hit him lightly on the shoulder. "I just hope you didn't drive yourself crazy in the process" She looked over at Leon who seemed to be studying the balcony with interest. "I'm glad you're working together again"

"Me too actually" Chris said with a smile. He glanced back at Jill who was watching him with a knowing expression on her face. He'd known her long enough to know that look. It usually spelled trouble for him. He sighed heavily. "What"?

"Well I was just wondering how long you've loved him" She replied with an easy shrug as if she'd just pointed out the most obvious thing in the world. Chris could've cursed her. She'd always been rather astute when it came to figuring out people's emotions. It was reassuringly yet immensely annoying at the same time. Jill liked being right almost as much as Chris hated her being right. He folded his arms across his chest and stuck his nose up at her, shrugging lightly.

"Whatever gave you that idea"? He asked, adopting the haughty tone that Leon liked to use in these sorts of situations. It seemed to work well enough for him.

"Oh come on Chris" Jill rolled her eyes, totally unconvinced. "It's obvious! I can tell by the way you look at him! I mean, please, tell me YOU'VE worked it out"?

"Maybe" He said petulantly. He wasn't exactly pouting as such but it was a damn near thing. Jill laughed.

"You love him"! She said excitedly. "I knew it! Have you told him"?

"Ssh"! Chris warned. Leon wasn't a million miles away. "He doesn't know." He whispered.

"I said have you told him" Jill repeated, using that annoying tone she used to use when she wanted him to do the washing up or pick his smelly underpants up from the bedroom floor. "Not does he know. Of course he knows" She rolled her eyes again. "Unless, of course, he's as hopeless as you"

"How am I supposed to tell him"? Chris asked before what Jill had said really sunk in. He paused and frowned. "You think he likes me too"? He couldn't help but hide the smile on his face. He knew he sounded like a lovesick teenager but damn it, Leon made him feel like a lovesick teenager. Ever since he'd come to the realisation back at the shack he'd wanted to tell Leon and, apart from the terrible timing, the other thing that had been stopping him was the simple fact that he didn't think Leon would feel the same way. Their relationship had taken so many twists and turns since they'd first met back in Spain. Chris didn't seem himself as the type of guy that Leon would be remotely interested in. He was a drinker, a smoker, a slob, an uncultured, unsophisticated oaf. Hardly the type of man Leon would see as an ideal mate.

"You're not as terrible as what you think you are Chris" Jill said, as if she'd read his mind. She smiled at him through her tired eyes. "You might not be the easier person to live with but it's not about whether you leave your pants in the fridge to cool them down or whether you like to smell your own farts. It's about what you're like as a person. You're the kindest, most loving, bravest person I know. They're going to be the things that matter to him and if he hasn't seen them yet then he will do" She stroked his cheek. "He can't not."

"I'm so glad I found you again" Chris pulled Jill into another hug. He'd known that he'd missed her but he hadn't realised quite how much. Although they'd lost any loving feelings they might've shared, he still considered Jill to be one of his best friends.

"You need to tell him" Jill replied. "Maybe not now but soon. It might be what you both need to get each other through this"

"You're not coming"? Chris asked, feeling the worry leap back into his stomach. If Jill didn't come along, he had no way of knowing whether she would be alright or not.

"I can't Chris," She said, sounding sorry. "I'm too weak and I'll only slow you down. I can get myself back to North America. I'll try to get to the West African BSAA headquarters and arrange back-up" Her expression turned serious. "You're going to need it if you're going after Wesker"

"There's a small village not far from here" Chris replied. "We met a guy called Josh who might be able to help you" He pulled Jill into a hug once more. "Look after yourself" He said gently yet firmly.

"Right back at you" Jill said, hugging him back just as tightly.

Leon, obviously sensing that the time was right to return to the conversation, approached Jill, patting her on the back lightly and slightly awkwardly. She smiled, releasing Chris and shaking Leon's hand.

"It was nice to finally meet you." She said with a smile.

"Sorry about the attack." Leon replied apologetically with a hint of embarrassment. Jill shook her head and waved her hand, indicating that it was forgiven.

"Okay guys" Jill wiped her eyes and gave Chris one last hug. "You two need to get going," She continued importantly. "The passage that Wesker left through leads to a hangar"

"You think he's going to Antarctica"? Chris asked, a cold feeling settling in his stomach. He wasn't relishing the idea of revisiting Antarctica and all the memories that he associated with it but he knew that they needed to stop Wesker once and for all. He was going to have to put his feelings on hold for the sake of the greater good. Something that, by now, he was very used to doing.

"Probably" Jill nodded. "He's playing a game with the two of you. He knows that I'd tell you about it. It's all part of his plan. You two need to look after each other" She said this last part significantly, looking at Chris as she spoke. Chris knew what she meant. He vowed that as soon as the moment presented itself, he was going to tell Leon exactly how he felt whether the younger man wanted to hear it or not.

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Leaving Jill behind had been one of the hardest things that Chris had had to do. She'd reassured him countless times that she was going to be alright but Chris knew that he wouldn't feel entirely happy until she was back in America and in Carlos' arms. At least she was no longer in Wesker's twisted clutches. Now, however, it was Leon who had entered into the firing line. Chris had been worried about the younger man before but that worry had increased ten-fold now that he was infected.

Chris was glad that he hadn't read the reports on the USB they'd liberated from the Spanish facility. If he had any real idea of what the Plagas infection would do to Leon he knew that he'd end up a gibbering mess of no use to anyone. The worst thing he could imagine was not having hope for a cure. At least if he stayed ignorant he always had that hope. He didn't care what anyone else said; in this case ignorance definitely was bliss. Or at least the closest he could get to bliss given the current circumstances.

The door that Wesker had escaped through led to a stone passageway that seemed to go on for miles. They walked for at least fifteen or twenty minutes, the passageway taking a slight yet noticeable incline, which told Chris, they were heading back to the surface.

"Would it have killed them to build a lift at this end too"? Leon asked in what was obviously an attempt at lightening the mood. Chris hadn't spoken much since they'd left Jill, which he figured was probably a bit weird for Leon. When he didn't reply right away he heard Leon sigh, the younger man's hand wrapping around his forearm. "Look, stop walking a second" He ordered. Chris stopped and turned to face his partner. Leon was looking at him, a serious expression on his features but there was a softer edge to it too, something that Chris wasn't used to, at least not from Leon. "I know you think that I'm cold and unaffected by what's going on around me but I'll level with you. I'm scared right now. There's something in my body that I don't fully understand and we have no possible way of knowing what's going to happen. But we still have a job to do. We need to put an end to this now so that this psycho hurts no one else. We've found Jill and we know she's alright and I know that was what was really worrying you. You need to focus if we're going to do this. It's not much of a comfort for me to say that what will be will be but it's a fact that we have to accept. We don't know what we're going into so I need to know that you've got my back"

"Of course I've got your back" Chris replied defensively with a frown. He knew what Leon was getting at. Him being moody and quiet and worrying non-stop wasn't going to make things any better and they would be totally screwed if he lost his focus but he still couldn't help it. He loved Leon and the fact that the younger man had such an uncertain future made it almost impossible for him not to worry. But if he let himself get distracted by it it could end up getting both of them killed. He sighed heavily. He was far from happy with the situation but he had to accept that, for now at least, that was the way things were.

"Good to hear" Leon nodded. "Now can you please go back to the crass, annoying oaf I'm used to"? His words were teasing, his tone almost fond. It was enough to make Chris think that he might stand a chance after all.

The incline of the passageway ended with a small stone archway. Bright sunlight shone in through the hole and they could clearly see the blue sky. They walked through the archway, which led out onto a large dusty plain. Looking behind him Chris could see that the archway had been cut out of a large rock face almost as if they'd just come out of the foot of a cliff.

The plain itself resembled a very basic air base. There were a couple of large grey hangars to their left, both of which had the doors wide open. Chris could clearly see that one of them was empty and that the other one contained the dark shape of a plane although it was hard to make out given the shadows inside. To the right was a tiny square cabin, which was probably used as an office and attached to it, a small control tower. Straight down the middle of the plain was the narrow asphalt runway, cracked in the baking sun. It was then that Chris noticed the dust trails that ran the length of it. He looked to the sky and saw a black blob in the distance, slowly moving away.

"What are you betting that Wesker's aboard that"? Leon asked, shielding his eyes from the sun as he watched the plane disappear into the distance. Chris nodded.

"We're going to have to follow him" He replied. Without any further warning to his partner, he set off running, hurtling towards the hangar. He heard Leon start to run too, both of them running full tilt, not wanting to waste a second.

They reached the hangar and found that it contained a long distance hauler plane that resembled a refitted bomber. It didn't come as a great surprise that the door to the cockpit was unlocked.

"Do you know how to fly this thing"? Leon asked as they climbed aboard and took their seats in the cockpit. The plane had obviously been around a long time, as it smelt musty and old. A fine layer of dust covered the cracked brown leather of the seats, which had gone shiny with age.

"I think so" Chris replied uncertainly. "I've only ever flown fighter jets before" He added as he tried his best to acclimatise himself with the controls. Actually getting the damn thing up in the air would be the hardest part. Once it was up he would probably be able to pilot it with little to no problems.

"Here's hoping the skills are transferable," Leon said, leaning back in his chair. He said nothing more, obviously sensing that Chris needed to concentrate. Chris ran his hands over the control panel, getting used to the lay out. Eventually he managed to get the plane powered up. Fumbling with the unfamiliar controls they taxied out of the hangar smoothly and onto the runway. Chris eased the throttle forward and they started to pick up speed. He wiped the film of sweat from his forehead.

The plane left the runway and within moments they were in the air. Chris finally felt that he could breathe a sigh of relief. He couldn't help having a little boast as he relaxed back into his chair.

"Well I think you'll have to agree that that was a show of superior piloting skills," He said, cracking his knuckles, a gloating smile on his face. Leon shook his head and rolled his eyes but smiled back at him.

"Now Mr Top Gun we just need to know which direction to go in," He replied smoothly. Chris felt his heart sink. He hadn't actually thought of that when they'd decided to follow Wesker's plane. He'd had a good head start and now there was no sign of the other aircraft. Jill had theorised that he would be going to Antarctica but there was no guarantee that it was where he was actually going. He supposed they could head for Antarctica but he wasn't entirely sure of the directions, or whereabouts in Antarctica to head for. It was another one of his plans that he'd just leapt into without fully thinking through first.

"Well" He licked his lips and tried his hardest not to look sheepish. "I'm not entirely sure of the directions"

"Really"? Leon raised an eyebrow. "Considering we're going to Antarctica I would imagine the direction you need to go in is south," He continued as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I take it you mean you're not sure of the bearings"?

Chris snorted, wrong-footed. Once again Leon had managed to make him look well and truly stupid. Well, he thought, he wasn't putting up with any of that. Refusing to meet Leon's eye, he turned his attentions to the control panel once more, clearing his throat before he spoke.

"Excellent" He said in a self-important tone. "You passed the test," He continued haughtily with the air of someone who knew exactly what he was doing. "Bearings is the correct aero-nautical terminology"

"Nautical means at sea-" Leon started to interrupt but Chris cut him off quickly, slightly irritated now.

"God do you know everything"?

He was about to attempt to further bluff his way out of the situation when the bulkhead between the cockpit and the cargo hold slid closed with a metallic click. Leon leapt from his seat and tried to pull it open but to no avail.

"Locked" He said darkly, suddenly having to grab hold of the back of his chair as the plane rocked violently. Chris stared at the control panel as the controls and levers locked into position.

"We're on autopilot." He said as Leon sat back down. He sighed. He should've known that this was just another step in Wesker's complicated game. "The same thing happened to Claire when she was heading to the Antarctica facility" He leant back in his chair. "There's nothing we can do about it." He continued with an air of frustration. Being a pawn in Wesker's games was becoming extremely tiresome and he couldn't wait to end it.

Leon stared out of the plane's cockpit window, admiring the clear blue skies for a moment. For the first time since he could remember he wasn't entirely sure what he was going into. Dennis had given him a rough idea of what to expect from the facility in Spain but this Antarctica complication was another thing entirely. He turned away from Africa's skies to look over at his partner. It was funny how easily that name came to him now. It wasn't so long ago that referring to Chris Redfield as his partner would've had him checking himself into the nearest psychiatric ward. In these moments, lost in his own thoughts, he felt bad; almost guilty for the way he'd treated Chris in the beginning. He'd become so bitter because of Krauser that he wanted to disassociate himself from people. It was so much easier to push someone away than it was to pull them closer. It was easy to disengage from a stranger but not from Chris.

But he was done with that. Krauser was dead. He didn't want to push Chris away. He very much wanted to pull him closer. He'd spent many a sleepless night imagining being beside Chris in bed with Chris saying and indeed doing the most wonderful things. A slight blush crept over his cheeks as he was reminded of a particularly filthy fantasy. To cover his embarrassment, he spoke quickly.

"I thought you hated prolonged silence."

"Sorry…I was just thinking." Chris replied. He was picking at the cracked leather on the arm of the pilot's chair.

"As a not so wise man once said to me, penny for them"? Leon offered. That at least brought a smile to the older man's face. It faded away in an instant, allowing Leon to be able to hazard a guess at what Chris had been thinking about. "You're thinking about Wesker aren't you"?

"It feels like I haven't thought of much else for years." Chris replied darkly. He was scraping at the leather now, his fingers, caked in blood and dirt, pushing into the material and revealing the foam underneath. Leon waited patiently, knowing Chris would speak when he was ready to do so. "I guess it's time I should tell you more about it huh"?

"You don't have to." Leon shrugged. He ran a hand through his hair and momentarily wished that he had access to a shower. He probably looked as filthy as he felt right now.

"I want to" Chris said. "I read your personal file so I feel like I sort of owe you" He rolled the foam from the armrest between his fingers. "I told you that Wesker was the S.T.A.R.S captain didn't I"? Leon nodded, not wanted to break the flow of Chris' speech. "I really respected him. He seemed like he knew what he was doing and could be relied upon in a crisis" He shook his head as though he was still marvelling as his own disbelief. "He knew what he was doing alright. He completely fucked us over all for Umbrella's sake. My colleagues and friends died in that mansion" He was tearing at the foam now. "They were killed in the most brutal ways you could imagine and all because he wanted power. It was his intention to finish us all off but luckily four of us survived that night. When we'd escaped and the dust had settled we all thought he was dead. I saw a Tyrant rip through his body. There's no coming back from that. At least that's what we all thought. But it was bittersweet Y'know"? Chris sighed heavily. He stared ahead, out of the cockpit window, looking at the skies that stretched out endlessly ahead of them. "We spent our time after that incident working to stop Umbrella. I was in Europe with Barry when I got an e-mail from some kid called Steve telling me that Claire was holed up on some island. By the time I got there she was gone. The whole island was in ruins and I had no fucking clue whether she was dead or alive. I tracked her whereabouts down to this facility in Antarctica and who should turn up? Wesker. Alive and fucking well" He thumped the arm of his seat hard, sending dust flying into the air. Leon wanted to speak and offer some words of comfort but he didn't want to distract Chris now that he appeared to be in full flow.

"He beat me down. Literally. He almost killed me. I actually though I was gonna die in some godforsaken shithole in Antarctica. But at least I managed to save Claire. Shit, she was messed up after that. Had to have god knows how many therapy sessions to get over what happened there. Wouldn't talk to me about it except to tell me that that kid, Steve, died" He finally met Leon's eyes and Leon was shocked at what he saw. He'd never seen Chris look so old and so tired. Before he could even think about what he was doing, he twisted in his seat and rested his hand on the top of Chris' arm. He left it there, holding on, as Chris continued to speak. "You ever wanted to know why I never gave up on you even though you treated me like shit and did whatever you could to push me away"? Leon nodded, feeling a pang of guilt. "It's because I could totally understand why you acted like that. As long as Wesker is alive then the people who are close to me are always gonna get hurt. You know how much that kills me? The thing is, I can't push people away as easily as you can. Other people don't understand the impact of what he's done. You never knew him as your Captain. You only know him as the twisted freak who shot you. I was a military man and you were taught to always trust your commanding officer. So I did. I fucking trusted that man with my life and now all he wants to do is extinguish it. I don't get it" He pounded the arm of the chair. "Why doesn't he just go after me? I'm the one he wants" He sighed. "Saying that, I really should fucking know better than that by now. Wesker's always liked to play with his prey and I guess I'm no different. Just look at what he's doing to us now"

"He wants to break you" Leon replied, finally feeling able to talk. The whole time he'd been listening to Chris, he'd been aware of the fact that he was touching him. His body heat was intoxicating. "You're his biggest threat so he doesn't just want to kill you. He wants to destroy you. The fact is, he hasn't so far cos you haven't let him and I know whatever he does, he's not gonna"

"At least Claire and Jill are safe" Chris said, acting as if Leon hadn't spoken. "It's just you I have to worry about now" He said it warmly, almost fondly, if Leon chose to interpret it as such. Leon started at his hand on Chris' arm. It was comforting and painful at the same time. The longer he held on to Chris, the more he didn't want to let go. Chris cared about him. That much was obvious. But Chris was straight. He cared intensely for his friends and loved them deeply. He was overwhelmed by a need to protect them. Leon couldn't allow himself to get caught up in the thought that Chris' intentions were anything more than simple friendship. In all honesty, he could deal with that. He knew that Chris would be a lifelong friend. They'd been through too much to ever really lose each other. It would take some getting over but Leon could get used to the fact that they would never be anything more than good friends.

"You don't have to worry about me" Leon let his hand fall from Chris' arm. "You know I can look after myself"

"I care about you Leon so of course I'm gonna worry about you" He saw Chris swallow hard, He seemed to be struggling to remain fully composed. "Especially now he's infected you" He added quietly.

"We agreed you weren't going to get hung up on that" Leon replied firmly. He placed the hand on the arm of his chair. His palm felt like it was on fire. Chris' expression was a heart-breaking mixture of sadness, anger and worry.

"Oh yeah" Chris snorted with a roll of his eyes. "Cos, y'know, if the roles were reversed you'd just shrug it off" He said sarcastically. He sighed, now seemingly unable to meet Leon's eyes. "I…I don't want you to die…"

Maybe it was the fact that Chris looked like he was finally going to break down or maybe it was because of his own fear that his infection might kill him, or maybe it was a mixture of both. Leon didn't know or care as he got up out of his seat and pulled Chris into a tight hug. Chris was quick to respond, hugging him back equally as hard. It was even better than Leon imagined it would be and it felt so right. He was scared, he was tired and for years he'd run away from this kind of intimate contact. But Chris wasn't Jack. He felt his breath hitch in his chest as Chris squeezed even harder. The older man's right hand crept up from his shoulder to the back of his neck. He felt breathless as he dared to return the touch.

Leon wasn't quite sure how it happened but suddenly they were kissing. It started out as a timid, dry-lipped kiss and he pulled away almost immediately but as soon as he did, Chris pulled him back in and started to kiss him tenderly. They stayed like that for a few moments, kissing easily before Leon finally felt able to break it. He felt shell-shocked but Chris was grinning at him in that stupid, lop-sided way that used to drive him mad.

"Wow" Leon said, trying his best to sound self-satisfied even though he was shaking all over. "You kiss men pretty well for a straight guy" He expected Chris to be wrong-footed by this remark but the older man shrugged easily.

"It was a surprise to me too" He replied. "I guess I'm bi" He offered a smirk. "Cos you're definitely not a girl and I definitely enjoyed that"

"So did I" Leon said, hoping to all hell that he wasn't blushing because his face certainly felt like it was on fire. He'd been kissed a lot but never like that. "The thing is, I have to know, what was that? Cos if that was your unique form of stress relief-" He could barely get the words out. He wasn't sure if he could deal with it if they were true. The thing that he'd wanted for the past year had finally happened and he wanted to know what it meant. More importantly, he wanted to know if he was going to get hurt again.

"It wasn't" Chris replied, perfectly serious. "I want to be with you" He looked surprisingly bashful as he rubbed the back of his neck. "That is, if you wanna be with me…cos y'know, I'm not the best guy in the world as you know-"

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for that" Leon said, feeling his heart hammering away in his chest. He wanted to tell Chris everything. Tell him exactly how long, tell him how much he'd spent the last year thinking about him but he didn't want to run into things head first.

Chris felt like a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He wanted to tell Leon the truth. That he didn't just want to be with him, that he loved him, really loved him. He wasn't all that experienced at relationships but it seemed too much too soon. He knew he could be clumsy as hell when it came to other people's feelings and he didn't want to do or say anything that might jeopardise things. He began to feel better about their situation. He had something to look forward to. He was going to return home to America and he would be with Leon. They could sit down and discuss things and be a proper couple. There was only one person standing in the way of that. More than anything he wanted to finish it. He wanted to kiss Leon again, over and over, but that was going to have to wait. They had more pressing matters at hand.

"I was thinking earlier that if I could find the controls for the autopilot I might be able to put it out of action" He said. The autopilot had been annoying him ever since it kicked in. It was slow and gave him the feeling of being out of control of the situation. It forced them to sit back and land wherever Wesker had chosen it to.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Leon said.

"Why not? We have no idea whereabouts we'll be landing. We could be landing into a trap for all we know" He replied. He got down on his knees by the control console and started pulling at one of the metal panels. He was faced by a mass of different coloured wires. He hoped that Leon wasn't watching him too closely as he had absolutely no clue what he was doing. Sure, he'd been in the Air Force but that didn't mean he had any knowledge of the inner workings of a plane. Something that he had a feeling he was about to find out.

"I hope you know what you're doing" Leon's voice startled him somewhat and he almost banged his head on the console.

"Of course I do" Chris replied, playing a quick game of Eenie Meenie Miney Moe before grabbing hold of a thick red wire. He tugged it hard and it snapped, giving Chris a mild electrocution as his fingers came into contact with the exposed copper.

"That hurt"? Leon asked. Judging by the tone of his voice, he was struggling not to laugh.

"Course not" Chris lied. Since pulling at the wire seemed to have no effect, he turned his attentions to a thicker black wire. He pulled at it but it wouldn't give. He grabbed his combat knife and started to saw at it.

"That's probably not a good idea," Leon said.

"Of course it is" Chris replied irritably. He wasn't a complete doofus. Eventually the wire snapped and there was a sort of clunk noise that was barely audible over the noise of the plane. Chris stood up and checked the control panel. The fuel gauge was slowly starting to drop towards the red zone. Chris turned round to look at Leon, a sheepish look on his face as Leon looked at the gauge. "Oops" He said weakly.

"Oops"? Leon glared at him; obviously barely containing his rage at what he probably thought was another perfect example of his stupidity. "I survive Raccoon City, Brazil and Spain only to get hotwired to death by Chris Redfield".

"Sorry"? Chris offered, knowing it sounded pretty pathetic. Leon obviously thought so too as he shook his head, raising his hands towards the ceiling as if he were giving up on him.

"You will be"

The planes engines began to sputter and die, each engine failure causing a red light to flash on the dashboard. The plane began to lose height quickly. Chris could only watch, completely helpless as the engines, now completely out of fuel, gave up and died. The plane descended rapidly, heading towards a sprawling snow covered base.

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As the plane broke through a low bank of mist, Chris realised that they were now a couple of thousand feet away from ground level. In the distance he could just about make out an airstrip, which is where they would've probably landed had he not messed with the wiring. Closer to the airstrip, which was about a mile away, were lots of low, flat, featureless structures that were almost buried in massive snowdrifts. Those however, were the least of his problems. The plane was heading for a tall cylindrical building that appeared to be completely featureless aside from a small network of steel pipes running from its roof to the ground. Leon was back in his chair, gripping onto the armrests, his eyes closed, obviously bracing himself for the impending impact. Chris breathed a sigh of relief, as the plane appeared to just miss the cylindrical building.

All of a sudden there was a loud metallic clang and the plane was ripped around, spinning to the right as the right wing clipped the building. Now minus a wing, the plane spun crazily like a hundred-tonne discus. The world outside of the cockpit blurred into white nothingness as Chris and Leon were slammed against the left wall by the centrifugal force. The cockpit windows cracked and almost instantly frosted over as a loud siren started to blare out.

A gut wrenching halt smashed them painfully against the ceiling before throwing them to the metal floor as the plane smashed sideways into another building. Chris got to his feet slowly and gingerly. He quickly felt his head and his torso, checking for any signs of blood. His hands came away clean. He felt a little winded and he knew that he was going to have a lot of painful bruising. He carefully lifted up his BSAA t-shirt and he could see them already flowering across his stomach and chest. The cold air hit his skin and revived him a little.

It looked as if they'd crashed into some kind of cabin like building. The left hand wall was broken in and was no longer recognisable as a wall. Broken concrete and what appeared to be bits of scaffolding had piled in through the huge gaping hole from where the wall had been.

The cold air was whistling in through the twisted cockpit, which no longer had any glass in the window. Chris took a few steps forward, his head and stomach complaining at the sudden movement. He spotted Leon at the other side of the wreckage, laying face down beneath the twisted remains of the co-pilot's chair. He wasn't moving but Chris decided not to panic. He moved slowly over to his partner, the cold making his fingers feel numb. He silently cursed himself for not pointing out the stupidity of travelling straight from one of the hottest places on earth to one of the coldest. He'd been so consumed with catching Wesker that he hadn't even thought about it. Perhaps Wesker had counted on them to make such a rushed decision, letting the continent's weather weakened them before they even got started. His body wanted nothing but to curl up and try its best to retain heat.

He forced himself forwards, trying to ignore his stiffening muscles, and quickly checked to see if he'd lost any ammo. He rubbed the skin of his exposed upper arms, finding that he couldn't feel them at all. He was by Leon's side now; the younger man was obviously unconscious. He slowly and carefully stooped to pick him up, hefting aside the mangled seat that had Leon pinned. He lifted Leon quite easily into his numb shoulders and looked around for the easiest way to escape. Leon's limbs felt like chunks of ice and he knew he needed to get to somewhere warmer quickly.

The bulkhead leading to the cargo hold was bent in its frame and appeared to be connected only on one warped side nearest the impacted side of the plane. He did his best and gave it a hard kick but not hard enough. His thighs felt like jelly. He tried again, harder this time, the condensation from his own breath beginning to freeze on his lip. The door groaned and then lopsidedly dropped out of the frame. It clanged heavily against the metal grating of the floor and slid away from him, telling him that the plane was on a slight slope.

A gust of frigid wind blasted his face as he stepped through the bulkhead's frame. He tried his best to shield Leon's face from the worst of it. The metal of the plane had already becoming surprisingly slippery. He grabbed some nearby cargo netting at his side and used it to slowly ease himself down the slope towards the busted open cargo bay door.

Outside, he could see the worst of the crash in the bright sunshine. Set against a perfectly clear pale blue sky was the wreckage of the plane, its nose angled slightly up, with its left hand side embedded in a grey concrete building of considerable length. As far as he could see, it was only one storey high. He couldn't see any sort of entrance, which meant that there had probably been one where the plane had crashed. Behind him was a chain link fence that had 'high voltage' signs plastered all over it. Chris figured that it probably wasn't the best idea to try that way just in case the fence was on. It was connected to another inaccessible hangar like structure on the other side.

He shifted Leon's weight on his shoulders, supporting him easily. As quickly as he could in the debris-peppered snowdrifts, he made his way around the length of the plane. He didn't feel like he was thinking anymore, that his drive to gain shelter from the maddening cold was becoming a single-minded desire. His body complained bitterly, screaming at him to stop and that didn't he know a t-shirt isn't what you should wear in these conditions? He ignored it, pushing himself forwards. Leon needed him to get him somewhere safe and warm and that was what he was going to do. His superiors in the Air Force had always said his need to protect would be his undoing.

He searched along the length of the closest building for a point of entry. A door, a window, some kind of hole or shutter, anything! He rounded the corner, neatly dodging the rubble and glass that was scattered around him. Just in front of him was a door! He pushed his rapidly failing limbs as fast as they would move. Get Leon to safety. Got to look after him. Got to make sure he's okay. He slumped against the frozen metal door, fumbling at the latch with numb fingers attached to a hand that felt like it was wearing a boxing glove.

It opened with little manipulation, leading into a dim corridor as plain and featureless as the exterior had been. Chris stumbled in, using the last of his might to slam the door shut behind him. The howling of the wind ceasing immediately, the only noise his shuddering breath. The corridor, which ran on for a good ten metres or so before hooking left, wasn't well lit but wasn't as cold as the outside either. He guessed there was, at the very least, some rudimentary heating system. A white notice board on his right was empty but enough to tell him that people worked here. Whether they were around or not wasn't his concern. He still needed to find somewhere safe to attend to Leon.

First was a door on his left. He tried it to find it opened easily but quickly slammed it again when he was hit by a blast of the biting wind. It had been, before the crash, someone's office. The plane had obliterated the wall, scattering furnishings and paperwork across the room. He continued further down the corridor, cautious but knowing there wasn't a lot he could do to defend himself whilst carrying Leon over his shoulder and in what was probably the early stages of hypothermia. His wits and reactions would be slow, easy for any would be attacker to use to his or her advantage. He came to another door, this time on his right and opened it, hoping for the best.

It was as non-descript as the office had been, but this time a lot more inviting. A bar heater was plugged into the corner providing a welcome rush of heat as soon as he'd opened the door. He carried Leon through and set him down on a worn grey sofa. It had obviously seen a lot of use over the years and had a couple of dubious looking stains but it looked comfortable and it was likely going to be the best they were going to get. Chris slowly and carefully laid Leon down, resting his partner's head one of the scuffed arms. He wiped Leon's frosty hair away from his forehead, exposing a small gash, before planting a gentle kiss onto the exposed skin, his lips barely feeling the contact but needing it anyway. The blood had hardened, almost frozen, leading back to the younger man's hairline. He was still freezing to the touch and stirred slightly in his semi foetal position as Chris gently laid another kiss on the ice-cold skin.

A round table took up the centre of the room, a couple of empty mugs on top and two white plastic chairs at either side of it. In the far corner, nearest the door that they had come in through was a small round side table, seemingly out of place, standing on three ornate mahogany legs, topped with a heavy iron typewriter. He didn't really look around the rest of the room, his mind on other things, more important things, like making Leon better. As Leon stirred behind him, Chris turned his attention to the bar heater. He moved over to it and checked the length of its flex, before picking it up, the hot metal casing burning hot in his icy hands, and moving it to the floor by the sofa, angling it upwards towards Leon.

Chris knelt beside the sofa, pulling a basic first aid kit out of his hip pack. He doused a sterile gauze in rubbing alcohol and applied it carefully to Leon's cut forehead. The split in the younger man's skin was fairly minor but looked painful, with crystallised blood along the edges of the gash. As Chris gently dabbed at the frozen blood, Leon moaned slightly in pain and a horrible wave of guilt washed over him. Leon wouldn't be like this, bleeding and in pain if he, Chris, had just left the damn plane controls alone. What the hell did he think the plane was going to do other than guide itself in to land safely at the airstrip? If Wesker had just wanted to kill him outright with such a 'traditional' method then he'd have done it years ago. He hadn't been thinking clearly, feeling awkward after their kiss because he'd wanted to tell Leon how much he loved him. So he'd barrelled in to this stupid mistake that had almost cost them their lives plus advertising their arrival at the facility to boot. He couldn't afford to keep making stupid mistakes like this. If they were going to get rid of Wesker once and for all he would need to up his game. He worked slowly, his hands warmer now but still hindered by their exposure to the cold as he applied Steri-strips to the gash before finishing off with a cover of fresh gauze and some tape to hold it in place.

He cupped Leon's cheek in his palm, pleased to find that the close proximity of the heater was working. It was also heating his own body up as he sat with his back to it. Leon's hips and legs still felt cold so Chris started to rub them, realising just how much his own arms were aching. They felt bruised and battered, most likely from the impacts he'd made as they were thrown around in the smashed up cockpit. All in all he was a lot better off than Leon though. He tried to push down another wave of the crippling guilt as he continued to rub Leon's limbs, all the while looking around for something that could be used as a blanket.

Thanks to the little heater, the room was getting hospitable but it was far from really warm. Apart from the few objects that he'd noticed before, and a few other knick-knacks on the shelves of a battered bookcase, there was nothing else in the room. He remembered back to his Air Force training and how he'd been taught that in lieu of a blanket, body heat could be used. He got up from the ragged carpet and grabbed one of the white plastic chairs, jamming it under the doorknob to secure it. He didn't relish the thought of being attacked whilst he was saving his partner's life. As soon as the door was as secure as it could be, he moved back to the sofa, climbing onto it as best as he could given its and his own size, wrapping himself around Leon in an attempt to get them both warmed up.

Despite the murky green carpet and off-white paintwork, the room had a relaxing quality to it. Perhaps it was the warm glow of the heater or the dim light from the single bulb that hung in a dusty shade overhead. Perhaps it was Leon's body, pressed into his own so tightly that he could feel every one of the younger man's firm muscles against his own or maybe it was the fact that he was finally holding Leon close, more intimately than he had back in the caves, safe in the knowledge that they were so much more than partners now. Whatever it was, he found himself drifting off to sleep. Something at the back of his mind was shouting at him, telling him the last thing they should be doing was sleeping in unfamiliar and enemy territory but it was too late, Chris' eyes were already closed.

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When Chris woke up, it took him a few moments to realise where he was. He looked at his watch, surprised when he realised that he'd been asleep just over three hours. He rubbed his eyes and noticed that he could feel his own skin again. The little heater was still going strong and had warmed up the room nicely. If this wasn't some fucked up facility of Wesker's he could happily stay like this for a while, cuddled up to Leon.

Leon!

Leon seemed to still be unconscious; his head nestled almost in Chris' armpit. A small amount of blood had soaked through the gauze, leaving a little brown blob on the small white square. Chris sat up a little and gently shook the younger man.

"Leon"?

"Mmm what"? Leon's voice replied, slightly croaky and sleep addled. To Chris, it was possibly the sweetest sound he'd ever heard.

"You're ok"! He said, hugging Leon close.

"Don't be too sure" Leon's voice was muffled now, pressed into his armpit with the force of the hug. The younger man broke free and looked at Chris reproachfully. "Your armpits fucking stink"! He moaned.

"Why Mr Kennedy"! Chris teased. "Such language"! He smirked as Leon rolled his eyes. A heavy blanket of relief had settled over him and right now no amount of crazy ass facilities or psycho ex S.T.A.R.S captains could ruin it. Leon was ok!

"My head's killing me," Leon said, putting a hand to the dressing on his forehead. "I assume the plane crashed"

"Sorry" Chris replied, the relief was giving way to the guilt again. He raised his left hand and gently stroked the gauze. "The last thing I wanted was for you to get hurt"

Leon shook his head to indicate it didn't matter, or that he wasn't bothered and planted a chaste kiss on Chris lips. The kiss alone made Chris feel a lot better.

"So where do you want to start"? Leon asked, hauling himself up from the sofa. His head hurt a lot and the rest of his body ached. Better that than dead though. Chris had been stupid to mess with the plane's controls but Leon knew that he'd at least had good intentions. As soon as he'd heard Chris mention that he was no stranger to Wesker's Antarctic facility, or at least his previous one, a worry had settled in Leon's stomach. He had that horrible sinking feeling that told him this was yet another step in the game. If Wesker wanted to break Chris it made sense to force him to relive traumatic experiences once again. Leon stretched and quickly checked his weapons, pleased to note that they were all present and correct. He looked over at Chris who was doing the same and hoped that the older man's resolve would continue to hold out.

It was clear fairly early on that the building they were in was a small office block of some sort. The room they'd slept in was obviously a break room and as well as the office that Chris had discovered, the only other room was a small toilet which, after using whatever greenery was available to them for so long, came as a nice surprise and both Leon and Chris made use of the facilities before moving on.

Beside the door leading to the toilet was a darkened staircase; which led downwards into what was probably the basement levels of the building. They reached the bottom of the stairs when a white hot, blinding pain shot through Leon's stomach. He doubled over, clutching at his abdomen. Chris was slightly ahead of him, already beginning to investigate one of the corridors. Leon tried to keep quiet, not wanted to alert his partner to the pain. It would only make him worry. He stumbled forward a couple of steps, his heart racing, his blood pounding in his ears as wave after wave of brutal pain hit his stomach. Blackness started to seep into his peripheral vision, edging in slowly as he let out a gasp of pain.

He felt his knees hit the hard concrete floor first, swiftly followed by both of his hands as he sucked in air, trying his best not to vomit. The pain stabbed relentlessly and he could hear that he was groaning now. Thundering footsteps, getting louder, like someone running towards him and then a strong arm on his shoulder, a hand rubbing his back soothingly.

"Leon? Leon! Speak to me"! It was Chris and he could hear the worry and desperation in his voice. Leon gulped in air, his stomach heaving, twisted in knots. "What's wrong"?

"Pain…" Leon spoke through clenched teeth. He turned his head to the side and vomited. It came out in a rush, vile and acidic, over and over again, his back spasming, his stomach muscles heaving. Chris was rubbing his back, his hand moving in slow circles and he was muttering soothing things but Leon could hear the fear spilling into his voice.

He dry heaved for a while and the pain began to ebb away. Chris helped him into a sitting position, his back against the corridor wall, away from the small puddle of vomit. Leon was breathing heavily as he felt his body and breathing slowly return to normal. He opened his eyes and saw Chris squatting beside him, brows knitted together in anxiety. He knew what the older man was probably thinking. Head injury. Concussion. Leon knew different. He'd had head injuries before, suffering various concussions in his short but eventful life in the Secret Service. No, this was something far bigger than that. It was the Plagas within him, growing and making its presence known. He'd read the case files that had been stored on the USB. The egg inside him was in the process of hatching. Soon he would be coughing up blood and then…well, he didn't want to think about it.

"It's the virus isn't it"? Chris asked, his voice slightly shaky. Leon closed his eyes and nodded. Stupid idiot! Of course Chris would work it out. He frequently didn't think but the older man wasn't stupid.

"I know what you're gonna say…" Leon wiped his mouth and accepted the water bottle that Chris thrust into his hands. "But I'm going through with this. If you're finishing Wesker then I'm gonna be right there with you"

"I wouldn't dare argue with you" Chris replied. He pulled a slightly crumpled stick of chewing gum out of one of the pockets of his combats and handed it over. Leon accepted it gratefully. "But we need to try and find this anti-virus. Fuck Wesker for now. This is more important"

"Fuck Wesker"? Leon got to his feet with Chris' help. "It's a little early to be thinking about threesomes don't you think"? He felt a little wobbly but otherwise back to normal, or at least as normal as he could be with some alien creation living inside of him. Chris offered him a smile but it disappeared quickly. Leon knew that he was more worried than ever but there was little he could do to change that.

They moved onwards down the corridor, occasionally passing doors and kicking them open to reveal that they led onto the upstairs catwalks of huge warehouse like rooms, filled with conveyor belts and manual cranes that seemed to lift heavy crates. Whatever was packed in them was anybody's guess.

"None of this seems to indicate any sort of research and development," Leon said after they'd closed the door on the third warehouse room. "And I don't know if you've noticed but there doesn't seem to be anyone about"

"It'll all be part of his plan" Chris replied darkly. "It'll be in case some civilian stumbles across it. No-one would expect anything out of the ordinary"

"There are security cameras everywhere." Leon noted, looking up towards the ceiling. They'd been one camera every two or three meters along the corridor and in all the rooms. He looked over at Chris when the older man didn't respond. "Chris! What the hell are you doing"?

Chris had undone his belt and unzipped the fly of his combats. Within seconds they were down by his ankles and he was exposing his naked rear to one of the cameras, waggling it from side to side. Clearly tattooed on his right cheek was the BSAA symbol. Leon felt a blush creep onto his cheeks.

"Just in case he's watching," Chris replied.

"There is so much I wanna ask right now," Leon said as Chris zipped himself back up and grinned widely at him. "Number one. Why the hell did you do that? Number two. Why get the BSAA symbol tattooed on your ass and number three, where the hell is your underwear"? He pressed his face into his palm. "That was so not how I imagined seeing your ass for the first time"

"And you loved it"! Chris shot back, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "Bet Wesker did too," He added after a moment's thought." He looked at Leon and the smile instantly disappeared. "Are you feeling better"?

"Much" Leon nodded. His stomach felt strangely numb and his abdominal muscles were aching after the powerful heaves but at least the pain had subsided.

There was a door at the end of the corridor, which lead into a vast cylindrical room, which appeared to reach way above the surface and far below. Leon vaguely remembered seeing the outside of the building when the plane was crashing. It was impossible to count how many floors that the expansive building contained as it seemed to go on forever. Above them, there was a huge gash in the curved wall letting in a blast of freezing cold air and a few massive chunks of bluish grey concrete were strewn on the catwalk where they stood. They walked slowly and carefully around the curved path. Leon held onto the rail as the sight of the drop below had made him feel a little dizzy.

The catwalk ended in a set of metal stairs, which lead downwards to a door on their left. They opened it and Leon peeked through to see a bunkroom that had shelves and lockers at the far end of it. He stepped to one side and allowed Chris to look in. Chris seemed to stare at the room for a long time before he shook his head in disbelief.

"It's pretty much the same as the facility I went round in 1998" He explained. "Looks like he's had it rebuilt," He continued as he closed the door.

"At least it means you'll have a good idea of where we're going" Leon replied.

Chris nodded but he couldn't help but feel uneasy. He knew that Leon had a point, being able to navigate the place easily would be a plus point but at the same time he couldn't help but think that Wesker was beginning to up his game. They pressed on, down more stairs, to a metal double door on their left. Just as he'd expected, when they opened the double doors, they revealed a slightly warmer flight of stairs, the width of the doorway, which were a very bland, bluish stone and lit by florescent lights. They bent halfway to the left and at the bottom was a carved wooden door, which seemed out of the place in the warehouse like building. Along a narrow offshoot to their left was another single door.

"We'll take this one" Chris said, nodding at the wooden door. He pushed it open and Leon followed as he entered the room. Just as he'd expected, it was a dead end. An office furnished in a traditional warm manner, full of exquisite wood and leather furniture with display cases. Each item familiar from the last time and doing nothing to help his feelings of weirdness.

He leant against the desk, struggling to recall where to go next. This wasn't something that he would've ever thought he would have to relive. But, like the mansion before it, the facility's lay out slowly came to him. Unfolding in his mind like a well stored map. They left the office and he led Leon down the offshoot, to the next door.

"There should be another massive room behind this door, like the other warehouse rooms we saw earlier." He said. Back in 1998, the room had been flooded and the whole bottom floor had been trapped beneath a frozen lake of water.

"It's a lift door." Leon pointed out, motioning to a control panel

"Hmm. Thought it seemed a bit too easy" Chris muttered to himself. He hammered the lift's call button. "So much for something going right for a change" He added as the lift door slid open and the pair of them got in. It started to descend without them having to press any buttons, which didn't really help Chris' suspicions. He wondered when this was all going to end. He was exhausted and felt like he'd spent half of his life chasing Wesker around facilities and messed up places. He wanted a break. He wanted to lie in bed all day and eat crap. He wanted to do normal things like go to the cinema or just play video games in his pants.

"Do you ever miss the normal things"? He found himself asking. Leon looked as exhausted as he did. There was a slight bruise flowering from underneath the gauze.

"All the time" Leon answered. He leant against the lift's smooth wall. "What annoys me the most is that I didn't choose to do any of this" He sighed. "I thought I had it all planned out. I was gonna be a cop and maybe rise through the ranks. Not too much though. I wouldn't have wanted to be stuck behind a desk. I was gonna settle in Raccoon, maybe find the right guy, start a family, the usual stuff."

"I thought you chose to work for the Government"? Chris said. Leon laughed. There was no humour behind it, only a hint of bitterness. He didn't really expect Leon to continue and it came as a nice surprise when he did.

"That's what they'd like you to think" He replied. "They picked me up a couple of miles outside of Raccoon. Said they could use someone like me. I guess it's not every day you can recruit someone who's been through something like that but I wasn't flattered. It was probably so they could keep tabs on me. Make sure I didn't go telling everyone and anyone who'd listen about what I'd seen in there. You know what it's like. The media got hold of the story but none of them were in there. Just us lucky few. The government didn't want to cause mass panic by letting some survivor spill his guts to the papers so it was their way of keeping me quiet. Give me a job and make me sign shit loads of papers promising I wouldn't ever talk about it"

"Wow" Chris whistled. He'd had no idea. He'd assumed that after the horrors of Raccoon, Leon had joined the government agency out of a need to stop something similar happening again, not because he'd been forced to.

"Don't get me wrong" Leon continued, reading Chris' expression. "I don't want you to get the impression I'm here under sufferance. I do enjoy what I do and I know we're doing a good thing, but if I was given the chance to do something normal again I'd take it like a shot."

"I can't wait 'til we get back to America" Chris replied. "I'm gonna take you out for the biggest meal ever! Then maybe you might wanna come back to my place"?

"Ugh. Only if I want to catch something"! Leon screwed his face up in disgust. "My place is nicer," He added with an uppity air. "Less chance of being closed down by the health department"

"Whatever gave you the impression that I'm an untidy slob"? Chris asked teasingly. He loved moments like this. Moments where he and Leon could lose themselves in banter and forget where they were for a while. It provided him with the brief respite he needed to make it through everything that was happening.

"The state you left your room in when you left Spain was a big clue" Leon answered.

The lift stopped suddenly and the door opened into a tight dark passage that stretched off to the left. Directly in front of them stood a rust coloured metal door. Chris pulled and pushed at it but it didn't yield. He cursed and gave it a swift kick. They were going to have to go the other way, to their left. The pair walked forwards down the dark passage and found themselves in what appeared to be a strange courtyard or playground. To their immediate left was a pond with an ornate stone fountain, water slowly trickling out. The noise of the moving water, something Chris would've normally considered calming, seemed sick and twisted in such odd circumstances. Perhaps even more perverse was the small merry-go-round that stood beyond the fountain with two garishly painted wooden horses on it. They were surrounded by a high stone wall as if they were in somebody's back garden.

Chris almost didn't want to look to his right. He knew perfectly well what he was going to see. It was an exquisitely carved double door, surrounded by Hellenistic pillars and a mantle, with rows of windows stretching off to either side beyond the garden in a wall that seemed to extend further than he could clearly see.

"What the hell"? Leon was looking at the fountain, the horses, the doors, with a look of disbelief on his face. With a bitter laugh, Chris explained.

"Part of the Spencer Mansion was re-created in the original Antarctic facility." He said. "It looks like that was one particular feature he thought I could do with seeing again"

Leon tried to read Chris' expression and for the first time since he'd known the older man, it was impossible. His face was a passive mask, unyielding to what he was really feeling. He reached out to try and grab his partner's hand but Chris was already striding towards the double doors. Leon watched him stalk away for a brief moment before following. If Chris was going to walk back into his own personal hell then Leon was going to be right there beside him. Chris pushed the double doors open with enough force for the sound to reverberate around the whole of the hallway that they stepped into. He stayed by the door, almost as if he was waiting for Leon to take in their new surroundings.

Leon had heard about the Spencer Mansion. The day before he was due to turn up in Raccoon City, he'd done some digging around into the case. He'd been hoping that he'd see or read something new. Find some significance in something seemingly benign. He couldn't see why the S.T.A.R.S, a highly respected branch of the RPD would make it all up and yeah, he might've been a naïve trainee, his ego stoked by his Academy tutors singing his praises, but he wanted to be the one who got the S.T.A.R.S reinstated.

The descriptions and faded photos didn't even come close to actually standing in what was essentially a perfect replica of the Spencer Mansion's main hall. It seemed to stretch out forever, dwarfing him and Chris in what was probably once intended to be opulent splendour. Except it was far from warm and welcoming. In fact, it was the complete opposite. Cold and oppressive with a ghostly atmosphere that could've made you shudder if you thought about it for too long. The marble flooring shone as if someone had just recently polished it and the red carpet that ran the length of the grand staircase in front of him looked plush and expensive. He half expected a young debutante in her best ball gown to come down those sweeping stairs that were surrounded with a deep mahogany banister and balcony. Ornate candelabras stood either side of the staircase, white candles emitting their soft glow. Paintings lined the walls in various elaborate frames and polished, deep redwood doors reminded Leon of an art gallery or an old library.

"It's really something isn't it"? Chris asked with no hint of awe or amazement. He shook his head in a disgusted manner before stalking off to one of the dark redwood doors to their left. "Stay here" He ordered.

"Like fuck I'm gonna"! Leon shot back. He shook his head at his partner's unbelievable stupidity.

"It could be a trap," Chris argued. "I'm not having you getting hurt again." He added firmly. Leon however, was far from convinced.

"Oh please" He replied sarcastically. "Don't give me that crap," He continued dismissively, waving his hand. "I'm a highly trained Secret Service Agent. Anyway, maybe me staying here on my own would be a trap. Did you think of that Mr Smartass"?

"I guess I didn't" Chris said, suitably cowed. He had the good grace to look a little ashamed. Leon sighed heavily. He knew Chris wasn't trying to go out of his way to annoy him, he was obviously just concerned and for that, Leon couldn't blame him one little bit. He knew that if the circumstances were reversed, and Chris was the one who was carrying around a rapidly maturing Plagas, he would do everything in his power to make sure that the older man was alright.

Following Chris' reluctant lead, he stepped through the door and found himself in another elaborate room, this time a dining room. A long table, enough to seat probably twenty people took up most of the space, draped in a pristine white tablecloth. Delicate lace placemats were neatly arranged, facing mahogany chairs with luscious red cushion seats. Immaculately polished cutlery reflected the light from the brass lamps built into the wall. Exactly like the main hall, a balcony ran the entire length of the room and Leon couldn't help but look up and remember when Wesker had shot him from the gantry in the Spanish facility.

The ticking of a well-maintained antique grandfather clock reverberated through the room, so loud in the silence that Leon could feel it in his chest. An understated white marble fireplace stood at the other end of the room, an emblem consisting of a wooden shield and crossed swords on the wall above it. In the right hand corner was an oak door and it was then that Leon noticed him.

The man.

A gasp from Chris told him that his partner had noticed it too. The pounding of Chris' hiking trainers on the marble floor joined the ticking of the clock as he ran over to the door.

"Chris! Wait"! Leon shouted. "It could be a trap"!

Chris ignored him, crouching by the body of the man that was sitting, slumped against the oak door. Leon could see the blood glistening from a distance. He hurried towards Chris who had got back to his feet, glaring down at the body. As Leon got closer he could see that the man's throat had been brutally torn open leaving a mass of shiny pink and red gore, almost luminous against his dark skin. Blood was soaked around the collar of his yellow t-shirt and spattered across his khaki green Kevlar vest, making dark patches on his black combats. His eyes were open, expressionless and staring, his lips parted in a silent scream that probably nobody had heard. There was a hip pack on a brown leather belt around his waist, matching the brown leather knife holster strapped across his front. Secured to this was a piece of white paper. Leon plucked it from the body and read it aloud.

"Now he's become a mere shadow of his former self…"

"Kenneth Sullivan" Chris finished for him, staring down at the body with a mixture of shock and disgust. Without warning he savagely kicked out at the body and Leon took a step back as the body slumped to the floor emitting a dull sounded hollow thwack. "A dummy" Chris added, turning away from it as Leon continued to stare in horror, allowing the piece of paper to slip from his grasp.

"He was…"

"A member of Bravo Team" Chris interrupted. He was leaning against the fireplace, staring into the empty grate. Leon opened his mouth to say something but Chris pushed himself off the marble frame and starting to stride back towards the main hall, his eyes looking anywhere but at the dummy representing his dead friend and colleague.

END OF CHAPTER FIVE


	6. Chapter 6

The Facility Revisited – Chapter Six

"I can remember the shortest route out of here" Chris said when they went back into the main hall. His tone was business-like and to the point, almost verging on short. Leon knew what he was doing, he recognised that behaviour. Hell, he'd done it himself. When you were faced with something so horrific, all you could do was draw on your training and get the job done. Now was not the time for personal feelings to come into the equation. Chances were that if you stopped to think, you'd break down. Chris had obviously snapped himself into that frame of mind to try and deal with being thrown back into the events of the Spencer Mansion.

"Good" He replied. "Let's get the hell out of here"

Chris nodded and headed straight for a mottled blue door ahead of them on the wall opposite from the dining room door. He opened it cautiously, obviously expecting a zombie to be waiting behind it, ready to attack. Leon knew the feeling.

Just as Chris had been expecting, they walked into what was effectively a small gallery, decorated in dark shades of blue. It was just as he remembered. Generic oil paintings adorning every wall, each lit by a single spotlight. His attention turned to the middle of the room, expecting to see the familiar plaster cast of Aquarius, a water-bearing woman on a pedestal.

There was a plaster cast on the pedestal but it wasn't Aquarius. Chris felt every drop of his blood turn to ice as he moved closer to the mannequin, a sick feeling churning in his stomach. He'd barely been able to keep it together when he saw the mock-up of Kenneth's grisly death but this was something else entirely.

Dressed in a S.T.A.R.S uniform and streaked with blood, in glorious Technicolor, was a perfect model of Forrest Speyer. He was mimicking the pose the Aquarius statue had been in but instead of eyes, the mannequin had dark, empty sockets, fake blood dripping from them and staining his uniform. On the pedestal at his feet was an immaculately polished golden plaque that read:

"In memory of Forrest Speyer, who gave his life rather pointlessly"

Chris turned away from the statue, resisting the urge to shove it off its pedestal. Wesker was playing with him, toying with feelings that he'd long since tried to bury and move on from. Although Kenneth had been a good guy to have around, Forrest had been almost like a brother to him and when Chris had found his dead body all of those years ago, he'd had to fight to get the image of it out of his mind. Now it was there again, right in his face so there was no way he could possibly ignore it. He knew that if he looked at things logically, this was Wesker's way of weakening his resolve before they confronted him. But it was failing miserably. Far from being weak and broken, these sick sights made Chris' resolve stronger than ever.

"Chris…" Leon's voice filtered into his thoughts.

"I'm fine Leon" Chris interrupted. "Let's just move on"

Taking great care to ignore the statue, Chris stepped around it, faced with the two exits he remembered from the original mansion. The left one a dark hall partially obscured by a heavy red curtain, the right one a plain, wood panelled door with a carving of a sword by the keyhole. He grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, relief setting in when it opened. For a brief moment he'd been worried that Wesker was forcing them to repeat his trek for various keys and puzzle items.

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The door opened onto a long, well-lit hall that bent to the left about halfway along, ten metres away. It was exactly how he remembered, the chandeliers dangling from the ceiling, the black and white marble floor underneath his feet. To their right, the row of windows, evenly spaced, black so that it was impossible to tell whether or not they were looking through them or that they were just painted. The row of display cases that Chris recalled were there on their left, like glass-topped sideboards. As they moved down the corridor, they could see the display cases were full of the things Chris had seen all those years ago, bleached bones and skulls, arranged around strips of leather and unidentifiable fleshly blobs in formaldehyde filled jars. Leon was watching the windows, his gun drawn, obviously expecting something to leap through them. Chris wasn't as convinced. Although he remembered Jill saying something about dogs when they'd first escaped the mansion, Chris didn't think they'd find any monsters now. It seemed that this new recreation was nothing but a simple tool to try and push Chris into madness.

The final display case at the end of the corridor contained something entirely different. Arranged neatly and almost with care, a S.T.A.R.S issue Beretta, a uniform completely shredded and covered in blood, Joseph's red bandana, Enrico's warrant card, all as if they were on display in a shop. To finish off the twisted display, a crumpled photo of Barry and his wife and children, all smiling happily at the camera, and the S.T.A.R.S squad photo that had hung proudly on the wall of the S.T.A.R.S office. Chris heard Leon's sharp intake of breath and knew that he'd seen the contents of the case. Chris continued to stare at it coldly, feeling an almost uncontrollable urge to knock the damned thing over. Strangely through, despite the mocking nature intended by the display, he felt as though disturbing or damaging it in any way would be disrespectful to his fallen friends and colleagues.

Instead he turned his anger onto the nearest display case, flipping it over with ease and taking pleasure from the sound of the glass smashing and the wood splintering.

"Fuck"! He shouted as loud as he could, feeling his anger ebbing away as quickly as it had risen. He stood over the broken case, breathing heavily, feeling a wet trail of snot dripping from his nose down to his upper lip from the force of his shout. With a shaking hand he brushed it off, wiping it on the leg of his combats. He placed his hands, palms flat, onto the wall, using it for support as he closed his eyes and breathed deeply, slowly counting to ten. He could do this. He would do this. He would do it for Leon, for Jill, for Claire for S.T.A.R.S, for every single person who'd ever suffered at the hands of Albert Wesker. Arms wrapped around his waist from behind and held him tightly. He continued to count slowly and when he reached ten he turned around and offered the worried looking Leon a determined smile. He kissed him gently on the lips and felt Leon's right hand slowly start to massage the back of his neck.

"I fucking hate that he's doing this to you" Leon said, his voice tinged with anger.

"Well it's good that we're here to kill him" Chris replied confidently, breaking free of Leon's hold.

"Do you even have an idea of how we're going to do that"? Leon asked, kicking aside some of the broken glass. "The man's a monster. I'm sure he's got the strength to match that superhuman speed"

"We'll find a way." Chris answered, hoping that what he'd just said was true. He'd been so determined to kill Wesker that he'd forgotten the importance of having some sort of plan. This wasn't a normal man they were dealing with. They couldn't just knock him to the floor and put a bullet through his brain.

"The virus he's infected with would be the obvious place to start" Leon said, staring at the ruined display case. "Do you think he ever developed an anti-virus? I'm thinking that if he's been infecting himself with all these different things, he'd develop something that could cure them if he needed to"

"It's a possibility" Chris replied, trying to think of something himself. He'd never really had the aptitude for science. He was more of a doer than a thinker. He looked at his partner who was seemingly lost in thought. If there was anyone who needed an anti-virus right now it was Leon. It was what they needed to focus on and if they came across one that might work on Wesker, well, that would be a happy bonus. He was about to say so when Leon continued to talk.

"Or even better an overdose"

"Overdose"? Chris frowned.

"Yeah" Leon nodded. "I'm willing to bet that whatever he injects himself with, it'll be a carefully measured amount. He doesn't want to lose himself completely to the virus like William Birkin, Sherry's father did. He'll want to enhance his powers and he'll still want to retain every aspect of his personality…"

"Oh yeah. He's gotta remain a smug fucker at all times" Chris interrupted, nodding in agreement. Leon flashed him his well-practised shut-the-fuck-up look and Chris smiled sheepishly.

"It's a risky move." Leon added. "Too much of the virus could easily kill him but it could also make him stronger. Then of course is the problem of how we're going to get hold of it. He's not the type to just leave things lying around. I bet he either keeps it on him at all times or has it under heavy guard somewhere. I think it's a risk we have to be willing to take because unless something pops up out of the blue, it could be our only option" He allowed Chris a brief smile. "But since you're naturally a risk taker I guess I don't really have to ask"

"Of course not" Chris replied. "I think we've got ourselves a plan" He added, feeling instantly better now they had a clear idea of what it was they needed to do. "But first we need to get ourselves out of this place" He felt a new determination wash over him. He could and indeed would, in time learn to move on from the sights he'd been subjected to in this new nightmare. He would never forget but it wouldn't matter as much now. He didn't have to go home to America alone and see the whiskey bottle on the shelf in the store. He wouldn't have to fight to ignore its siren song as he filled his basket with groceries. He wouldn't climb into a cold and empty bed and lay there with the lights off, staring up at his ceiling and reliving these hallways and rooms and the horrors within. He had a partner now in more ways than one. They would be there to help each other move on from it all. To move on from the mansion, Raccoon City, Antarctica, Spain, Africa. It was a comforting and strengthening thought to know that he was never going to be alone again.

"Are you ready to move on"? Leon asked. Chris opened his mouth but Leon stopped him before he could speak. "If you do that whole 'born ready' thing again I will seriously lock you in one of those display cases"

"I wasn't going to" Chris replied even though he was. He smirked at Leon before focussing back on their current location, wracking his brains to remember where they needed to go next to get out as quickly as possible. He felt like a lab rat in a maze and that was probably, no doubt definitely intended.

They moved through the door at the end of the hallway and it led, as expected, into yet another long corridor. Chris remembered it to be tight and winding with several blind corners. It wasn't as well lit as the previous one so they were going to have to be on their guard more. The sickening green wallpaper was still there, contrasting with the dark oak floor and fixtures around them. They passed a heavy iron door.

"On your right is a door that led to a backyard" Chris said, adopting his best tour guide's voice as they walked onwards. The hall bent left, passing another single oak door on their right. "And here we have a lovely bathroom" Chris continued, motioning towards the door as they passed it. "Complete with everyone's favourite bath time surprise, a zombie in the tub"

"Is doing that really helping"? Leon asked, his gun raised, still obviously expecting some sort of attack. Chris could tell that Leon was edgier than him, tenser.

"Well it doesn't hurt" Chris replied with a shrug.

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They went around more bends, passing another door, which was accompanied by an explanation by Chris. A room with a descending ceiling was behind that door. Leon let him continue, knowing that humour was once again how the older man was dealing with it all. He couldn't quite appreciate it so easily. The mansion was new to him and even though he was with Chris, who knew where he was going, he still felt very uneasy and tense. It reminded him of walking through the corridors of the police station back in Raccoon, wandering around aimlessly when he didn't know where to go. Running into monsters and dead bodies.

Through the next double door, an ornately carved one was a very dark hallway with deep shadows drenching the corners. A couple of doors were on their right, Leon looked at the lock of one of them and saw that it had a picture of a knight's helmet engraved into the brass by the keyhole. At the end of the hallway on the left was another door, almost invisible in the darkness, which Chris told him led to a gallery of portraits guarded by murderous crows. Jill had almost been caught by that trap.

"This is where we need to be." Chris said, pointing down an offshoot their right. Leon hadn't noticed the tight passage before, as it was disguised in a shadowy corner of the hall. They hurried down it and it lead through a rusted iron door into a curved passage with a crazy paving floor. Small arched holes were carved high into the left hand wall, twisted vines spilling in from outside. It stopped at a door, a strange looking plaque on the wall beside it. "This leads into the gardens" Chris said, examining the plaque on the wall. He looked as if he knew what he was looking at. "Four crests…all here…" He muttered to himself.

Leon looked at the plaque himself. It was quite large, probably a metre squared and appeared to have four brass crests set into it. They were only about the size of a fist but they looked heavy. Each one bore a stylised astrology themed image, a star, a sun, a moon and a cloud blowing a gust of wind. He couldn't be sure but it looked as if they were part of a complicated puzzle, probably to open the door.

Chris pushed on the door handle and pushed. There was no give at all, strange for a door, even one which was tightly locked. He frowned at it and Leon had a go himself. It felt like he was pushing into a brick wall. He ran his gloved hands over the door only to find that that was exactly what it was, a brick wall, painted to look like a door. The fastest way out had turned into a dead end. Chris punched the wall, letting out a frustrated growl.

"Now what"? He demanded.

"Search me" Leon replied, a little irritated at Chris' tone. "You're the expert on this place. Not me" He sighed and tried not to let his anger get the better of him. Chris was understandably annoyed and tense and he'd just been forced to relive his colleagues' deaths. "What about heading back to the main hall"? He suggested. "We could go back out through the main door and check out the warehouse rooms again, see if there's something we missed"?

"Better than hanging around in this place" Chris replied. He gave the painted on door one last filthy look before heading back down the passage. Chris was breathing heavily, seemingly seething, and Leon didn't feel any better. They walked back silently and when they came back to the door, they both wordlessly checked their guns before preparing for their trip back to the main hall.

The door opened with squeaky hinges. They moved cautiously back down the dark offshoot, pausing when they heard the sound of a door ahead of them open and then slam shut. What followed was the sound of a heavy, padded footstep, then another almost ponderous footstep.

"Shit" Chris muttered as the steps continued, accompanied by a strange clicking reptilian sound and then, from a shady corner in front of them, it emerged.

Leon had never seen anything like it before. It stood five feet tall, covered head to toe in dark green scales that glistened in the low light. It was standing slightly hunched over and had a flat spined skull. It's yellow eyes glittered above a wide, toothy mouth. The arms were muscular, long, with claws almost touching the floor and its back legs were bent, giving it a slightly squat appearance. He watched as it twisted its head to the side at an inhuman angle, and then opened its wide mouth to cry out. Leon raised his handgun and fired, hitting the creature straight in its vile throat.

Chris followed, opening fire on the creature's torso until it went down. It stayed on the floor for mere seconds before it started to roll back to its taloned feet. The door that would take them back to the main hall started to splinter and buckle inwards. It looked as if their route back was compromised. Two more of the scaly abominations burst forth through the door, sending splinters and wood chips flying. They joined the first one, which was now oozing thick blood from its bullet wounds, ready to spring at them.

Leon felt Chris grab him by the back of his t-shirt with his left hand, heard him smash his right hand against the door to their left. It flew open and Leon was launched through, reeling to keep his balance as the first creature sprang at him viciously. He ducked into the doorway, instinctively covering his head. He turned and dropped onto his back, aiming at the open doorway by his feet. He unloaded a full clip into the first vile beast as they started to bottleneck in the hallway. Chris' fire joined his once more and, in a haze of gun smoke, the three of them fell to the floor with dull, wet thuds. Leon booted the door shut and Chris turned the key in the lock, providing a temporary reprieve. He was at Leon's side just as quick, hauling him to his feet.

"How are we gonna get back to the main hall now"? Leon asked, breathing heavily as he dusted himself off.

"It's ok, I know where we are" Chris replied. "Those things, for reference, they're called Hunters"

"They're lovely" Leon said sardonically. "Gotta love those screeching noises" He looked at their new surroundings. There were in a tight hallway that was painted a warm amber colour and lit by a huge chandelier that was hanging above an oak stairwell ahead. The walls over the stairs were covered in more generic paintings, landscapes, stoic portraits, and pictures of the mansion, which were all hung together in mismatched frames.

"If we go up the stairs and through a couple more hallways we'll get back to the main hall" Chris explained.

"Sounds good to me" Leon replied as they moved forward towards the stairs. Chris stopped when he appeared to notice something of interest on the wall under the stairs. Leon turned his attention to what his partner was looking at. A white piece of paper was pinned to the wall, close to a door that looked as if it lead into a small storeroom. Written on the note, in a neat sloping script was:

'Chris, I've left you some ammo in the storeroom. I've gone to try and find another way out of this mansion. Cpt Wesker'

Chris tore the paper from the wall, crumpling up until it became a small, tight ball. He hurled it as hard as he could back towards the hallway.

"Fucking Wesker" He muttered darkly.

"Captain Wesker"? Leon frowned, speaking the words aloud to see if he could get them to make more sense. "Why-"?

"'Cos it's yet another part of his fucking game Leon" Chris snarled. "He left me the exact same note back in 1998" He kicked out at the store room door, hitting it so hard with his hiking trainer that it flew open.

"Well we might as well check it out" Leon replied calmly. "Now you've gone to trouble of opening the door," He added, nodding towards the storeroom. "If he's idiotic enough to give us ammo then I say we play him at his own game. He's probably expecting us not to take it"

"Who knows what he's thinking"? Chris mumbled but didn't put up any argument. Leon walked into the small storeroom to find it was quite cosy, lit by the soft glow of an oil lamp. A shelf and the far corner was full of gardening equipment and a tank of kerosene. By the door was a circular corner table with a typewriter sat on top. It was another one of those heavy old-style ones that Leon had noticed when he'd woken up in the break room when they'd first arrived. At the back of the room was a large trunk. Leon strode across the creaking floorboards and lifted the lid and inside, sure enough, was a collection of ammo. There was a box of twelve-gauge ammo for Chris' shotgun, at least thirty rounds. Beside that were several boxes of ammo for their handguns that equated to a few hundred rounds.

They both took the opportunity to stock up and reload. They worked silently and quickly, both aware that more Hunters could break through the locked door at any moment. As they left the storeroom, the door Chris had locked was rattling ominously. The doorknob was twisting slightly, sounding as if it was being scratched on the other side by clawed hands that lacked opposable thumbs. The moved up the stairs carefully, keeping their footsteps light, not wanting to make a noise to encourage the Hunters any more than they already had.

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They turned right at the top of the stairs and Leon noted that Chris was no longer making his tour guide comments. The older man's face was grim, his mouth a thin line of determination. It was clear this mansion situation was getting to him. Leon could only hope that they would be able to get the hell out of the place quickly and before Chris was subjected to anymore ghosts from his past.

"It's funny" Chris suddenly spoke up as he led him round the landing, the sound almost making Leon jump after the minutes of complete silence. "I spent years trying to forget these hallways and now that knowledge is probably gonna save our life"

Leon opened his mouth to offer some form of comforting words to his partner but his words were lost when there was an almighty cracking sound as the door downstairs gave way. A hunched green form sped towards the stairs. The Hunter stopped and looked up, its blank eyes staring at the handrail where they'd just been. It suddenly sprang inhumanly high, just missing the chandelier and clearing the handrail easily. It stood before them, hunched on the landing. Its body seemed to swell slightly as it let out a loud scream, a horrible high-pitched rattling sound. Chris took a step forward, pushing Leon back as he aimed his shotgun in the creature's ugly face. One blast and the skull erupted, the creature crashing into the handrail and taking a section with it as it landed on the floor in front of the storeroom with a wet smack. Leon looked down and saw its thick blood starting to soak into the carpet.

They moved onwards, through a door and sweeping the corridor that followed, left and right, low and fast. The red hued corridor was empty. More dark wood and red carpet greeted them, matching perfectly with burgundy walls lit by red tinted wall sconces. A small side table to the right had a tiffany lamp on it and beyond that, a door. On the left, the corridor hooked right and Chris was already starting to move along, back to silence. Leon followed him, covering his back, expecting more of the Hunters to attack at any moment.

Chris walked on, wondering just how much more of this he could take. Wesker was throwing things in his face that he'd been certain he'd left in the past. He passed an ornately carved turquoise double door and knew what he was going to find next. Sure enough there it was, propped up against a door set into the wall on the left. Another one of Wesker's dummies. The dummy was covered in blood and wearing a torn orange S.T.A.R.S t-shirt. He stalked straight past it. He didn't need to look down to know that this dummy was supposed to represent Richard Aitken who'd been bitten by the giant snake. No doubt the dummy would have two puncture marks on its torso just like Richard had had. He remembered Rebecca's determination to save him and how she'd failed to do so, despite her prodigious skills. As he walked past he expected Leon to say something but he remained quiet. He respected Leon for that. The younger man never seemed to want to push him into talking the way Jill or Claire used to do. He seemed to understand that the time for talking was later, in months or years to come when they were sat at home and not being toyed with by some power hungry maniac. It made him love Leon all the more and made him more determined to ensure that after this, they would have a normal life. He wanted to give Leon all the things that he'd talked about in the lift. A settled home life and a family. Maybe when they returned to America he would take a back seat in the BSAA, do admin work. Not that he'd ever really seen himself as a desk job sort of guy. Maybe he didn't have to do that. Maybe he'd just rejoin a local police force. He wondered if Leon would able to leave his government job. He'd always wanted to be a cop and he never really got the chance before. Chris smiled in spite of himself. He was sure that if Jill or Claire were here they'd been laughing at him. Chris Redfield settling down and planning for the future. It was unheard of. Well, at least until he'd met Leon.

He shook his head. He needed to refocus. They only had to pass through one more door to get back to the main hall. He was half expecting to be greeted by another one of Wesker's big 'surprises'. Perhaps another T-Virus creature. So it came as a pleasant surprise when Chris opened the door to the main hall to find that it was completely empty. They stepped out onto the second floor balcony. The cavernous main hall was tomb-like in its silence, just as it had been when they first entered. They continued across the luxurious red carpet towards the stairs that led down. Chris peered over the oak handrail, checking for movement but seeing nothing.

When they reached the lush carpet of the ground floor they stopped dead. There was an unmistakable hissing sound coming from outside the front door. It was accompanied by a symphony of tapping and clicking noises and the occasional thud as something threw itself at the strong wood.

"Lickers" Leon said. He sighed heavily. "So much for getting out of here the way we came in. Sounds like there's dozens of them out there. Even if we did have the ammo to take them all on we'd probably die trying"

"I'd kill for a grenade or two right now" Chris replied, glaring at the door. "Throw a couple of those babies through that door and they'd all be toast" He turned around to suggest they continue to explore the mansion but found that Leon was no longer by his side. Instead he was examining one of the archways underneath the grand staircase. Trying his best to ignore the feral, hungry sounds of the Licker hoard outside, he quickly trotted after Leon when the younger man seemed to disappear down a corridor. Chris remembered that when he'd been here the last time, he'd found Claire there, unconscious and cocooned by Alexia Ashford. When he rounded the corner himself he saw Leon examining a long flight of cold concrete stairs.

"Where do these lead"? Leon asked, nodding down the flight of stairs. Chris was confused. He didn't remember those stairs from either of his previous experiences in the mansion. In the dim light he could just about see what looked like a gate at the bottom.

"No idea" Chris answered. "Never seen them before"

"Could be a new way out" Leon said. "What do you say"?

"I would say it can't be any worse than a starving hoard of Lickers but this is Wesker we're talking about" Chris grinned at his partner. "But it's probably our only option so I say I we take it"

"Sounds like a plan" Leon started to walk down the stairs. Chris followed, covering his back as they moved downwards.

"Something I meant to ask," He said as they walked. "When did you start valuing my opinion"? He asked it lightly. He'd noticed the subtle change in their dynamic and although it was a welcome one he was genuinely interested as to how it had come about.

"When are you going to stop reminding me how much of a jerk I was to you"? Leon asked in a bored voice. "I started valuing your opinion when I realised that you weren't a vacuous oaf interested only in farts and beer and that you're actually a highly trained, competent individual. Incidentally, that was around the time I noticed that you had a great ass"

"Damn right"! Chris smirked. He was glad that Leon had finally come around to his way of thinking. He did indeed have a sweet ass. "But just for the record, beer and farts are still pretty cool"

"Of course" Leon replied sarcastically, stopping as they reached an undecorated iron gate. After the splendour and flamboyance of the rest of the mansion it seemed out of place. It opened easily and they stepped through, down another, smaller flight of stairs, which ended at the beginning of a passageway. The passageway was quite short, with a door clearly visible at the end. Its walls, floor and high ceiling were all made of grey concrete. Chris could see something on the walls ahead of them but it was hard to make out in the dim light. Chris stepped forward cautiously, expecting to see more S.T.A.R.S memorabilia or perhaps some images from his first time in Antarctica. What he found instead however, was much worse.

It was a photograph, grey and grainy as if it had been lifted from some CCTV footage, Leon was lying prone on the ground, blood seeping from his stomach and thigh, his face a twisted grimace of pain. The moment Wesker had shot him back in Spain. Chris knew the image well; he'd seen it enough in his nightmares.

"Don't look…" He commanded, his voice shaky. He grabbed Leon's wrist tightly and started to march forward. Unlike Richard's dummy, he couldn't easily ignore any of the images that spanned the length of this macabre passage. The next image was even more gruesome the same but blown up to A5 size and in full colour. The one after of Leon on his own in a sterile looking corridor, looking anxious and clutching a ballpoint pen in one hand. Another followed, of himself frantically trying to attend to Leon's wounds.

"Chris…"

"I said don't look"! He barked, squeezing Leon's wrist and marching onwards. He tried to keep his head down but the pictures were too hard to ignore. They were getting bigger and bigger, more close-ups of Leon's wounds, his pained face and there was more of them, papering the walls, the ceiling and even the floor beneath his feet. "Close your eyes"! He shouted. He couldn't let Leon see any of these.

"Chris…I've seen…it's ok…" Leon sounded nervous but Chris didn't care.

"It's not fucking ok"! He bellowed. The images were all the same now. Leon lying in a hospital bed, his eyes closed, the thick tube down his throat. Drips and wires snaking around him. The sheets had been pulled back and his gown lifted up so the thick dressings around his stomach and thigh were visible, spotted with blood and attached to wound drainage tubes. Chris could just about understand how Wesker had obtained the CCTV from the Spanish facility but the hospital? Someone, perhaps not him, had been in Leon's hospital room long enough to photograph him in that state. And where had he been? Out cold in some other part of the hospital, unable to do a damn thing. It was twisted. It was invasive. They hadn't just photographed him as he was, they'd touched him. Their sick, roaming hands touching his skin, pulling down the sheets, pulling up the gown. This evil stranger had touched him in places that he, his lover, hadn't even touched him. How could that possibly be ok?

In an instant, Leon felt Chris' tight vice-like grip release him. He stumbled into the wall and watched in horror as Chris let out a wail of rage before blindly and determinedly tearing all of the photographs off the walls. His gloved hands clawed at corners, ripping and tearing, crumpling, shredding and tossing aside almost rhythmically before moving on to the next one and repeating the whole process again. He was muttering to himself as he did so, jumbled up words that didn't make sense. Leon stepped backwards, out of the older man's way as his rage continued to pour out into the passageway. He was losing his grip on his determination, on his control and there was nothing Leon could do. Chris' rage was so blind that he would hit out without really knowing what he was doing. All Leon could do was take a step back and wait for it to be over.

Eventually, when every single image lay in shreds on the floor, Chris stopped. He slumped to the concrete in exhaustion, his back against the wall, sweat pouring down his forehead. He stared blankly ahead, breathing heavily. Wordlessly, Leon moved beside him, sliding down the wall himself until they were sitting next to each other. Leon stared at the opposite wall and waited silently.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed but as soon as Chris' breathing had returned to normal and the trembling had stopped, he spoke.

"Are you ready to move on or do you need more time"? He asked gently. He was certainly ready to move on. Although Chris had ordered him not to look, he'd seen enough of the photographs to know why Chris hadn't wanted him to. Seeing those images had shaken him to his very core and it had taken every single ounce of his resolve to not break down himself. When he'd seen Chris' face he knew that he couldn't. He couldn't let his partner see how much it'd affected him because it would've only made it worse. It was scary seeing Chris like this. Scarier and more unnerving than the photographs by a long shot.

"Let's move on." Chris said quietly. He got to his feet quickly, so quickly that he almost overbalanced. "But first…" He muttered. His hands moved fast, suddenly gathering together the scraps and strips of shredded photographs. He piled them up in the middle of the passageway. Leon watched in confusion wondering what hell he was doing now but knowing that he shouldn't question it. Chris worked quickly until the remains of the photographs were gathered up in one big pile. He plucked out one of the shreds at random, twisting it, before pulling out his lighter. With a quick flick, the flame burst into life and ignited the scrap in his hands. The flames licked up the shiny photographic paper, melting away the image. Chris threw the scrap into the pile and stepped back, watching as the flames spread to the other scraps. An orange glow filled the dim passageway and reflected in Chris' eyes as he continued to stare at the flames. Leon knew that it wasn't the wisest move. Setting a fire in the passageway meant that Chris was effectively blocking off an escape route. Since this part of the mansion had been new to him, they had no idea what was waiting for them behind the door. It was obvious however, that Chris wasn't thinking that clearly. Leon couldn't blame him. There was something satisfying about seeing the images warp and melt in the flames. If destroying them was what Chris needed to, if not feel better, then at least start functioning again, then they would have to worry about the potential of a blocked exit if it came up.

"Let's go" Chris said, turning on his heel and heading straight for the door.

"Do you want to talk-"? Leon started to ask as he hurried after him. Chris was moving fast, so fast, that Leon had to jog to keep up with him.

"No" Chris replied firmly, opening the door at the end of the passageway. "Do you"?

"Not particularly" Leon answered as he closed the door on the passageway. He blinked as he took in their new surroundings. Instead of another room or perhaps another passageway, they were in what looked like an alleyway. The sort of alleyway you might in a city. Over-filled bins sat in a corner on their right and cardboard was stacked against the wall. The walls themselves were grey and dirty scrawled names and dates among various delinquent messages and torn posters. The wall on the left was cracked and showing bare brick work and had a grey wooden door built into it, chipped and riddled with dry rot. Leon frowned deeply. It wasn't just the fact that they'd just walked into what looked like a city; it was the fact that it looked familiar to him. He looked upwards at what looked like a painted starry black sky way above them. He placed his hand on the door handle, feeling a shiver running through him, and pushed it open.

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It opened behind the counter of a gun shop, well lit but completely ransacked as if looters had raided it. On the right, a floor to ceiling window was smashed looking like a mouth of glass teeth. Beyond that was total blackness.

Lying in a pile of broken glass was the body of a porky middle-aged man. He lay on his belly, his black hair soaked with blood, his white t-shirt stained red, his jeans and trouser suspenders ragged. His back looked like it had been torn at. Leon froze, feeling as if his body and just completely shut down. Another one of Wesker's dummies. He knew now why the alleyway had looked so damn familiar.

"That's Joe Kendo…" He heard Chris say behind him. Leon stared at the dummy, trying to force himself to move. Now Wesker was obviously done with his recreation of the Spencer Mansion, he'd moved on to Raccoon City. He felt a strong grip pull him back through the door and back into the alleyway. Chris slammed the door on the gun shop and dummy. He leant against one of the alleyway walls watching him carefully. Leon swallowed hard. It was ok. Chris had gotten through the mansion. It was fine. He could do this. He had to ignore the feelings that were threatening to erupt. He wasn't twenty-one anymore. He wasn't dressed in his cop uniform. He was older; he was highly trained and not some naïve rookie anymore. He wasn't on his own. He had Chris.

"Looks like it's my turn now…" He said shakily.

"I'm going to kill him for all of this" Chris replied. "Forget anti-viruses or overdoses. I'm going to personally snap his neck. Are you going to be alright with this? We could try and find a way back"

"It's fine" Leon answered, wishing he actually felt fine. "We'll have to go forward. Wesker wouldn't have gone to all this trouble to recreate Raccoon if there was another way around" He swallowed hard. He felt like he was twenty-one again, dressed in his cop uniform and having just rolled into the city for the first time. He had to tell himself that this was years later, that he was highly trained and that he wasn't that naïve rookie anymore. And he had Chris. Chris made all the difference.

They moved along the cold and damp alley. The smell of stale urine was convincingly strong. Leon looked upwards again. It was hard to believe that they were underground when the sky looked so real. The only real giveaway to the fact that it was a painted ceiling was how uniform the stars were. They were equidistant and unblinking, set out in a rigid grid pattern. They were probably halogen lights set into the painted black backdrop. They proceeded forwards with caution, Leon particularly on the lookout for any zombies that might decide to pop up.

They came to a familiar dead end. The back of a white van, wedged firmly into the mouth of the alleyway with the remnants of a twisted fire escape buried into its torn roof. To the right of this wreckage was an enclosed area behind a barred gate. A small basketball court oddly squeezed in between two buildings, the fire escapes from each one intruding into the court's space.

"Shit hole." Chris muttered, pointing his gun towards the court. "When I started out in the RPD I busted so many drug deals down here"

It was all so familiar and Leon had to keep reminding himself that it was all an elaborate set and nothing more. They stepped into the basketball court and he was surprised by the little details that he remembered. Details that he should've forgotten years ago. Details that the government psychiatrists he'd been forced to see had never known. He could remember the graffiti on the concrete walls of the court. 'Blood on the dance floor' and, possibly the most poignant, 'this too shall pass'.

Except instead of those poorly scrawled messages, it was something entirely different. He stepped further into the court, looking around all the walls in disbelief. The walls read like a fact file on him, on his life. When and where he was born, even what time. His educational achievements at high school and beyond. All of the stuff that had been in his personnel file. That was something that he could deal with. He knew that Wesker had read his file from the things that he'd said when they'd first met in Spain. But as he moved on, things became more un-nerving. Scrawled on the concrete were details that Wesker couldn't have possibly known because they weren't in his file. Intimate details like the name of his first love, when he'd lost his virginity and when he'd realised that he was gay. Dates and information sprawled across the walls like some sort of display. Leon was speechless and he could see Chris reading the details, his face becoming more and more hardened.

"How the hell did he know this stuff"? He demanded.

"He read my personnel file. We already know that" Leon replied. "The other stuff though…I'm not sure" He felt the first rush of anger hit him. These were things that he should've been able to tell Chris in his own time. Part of a new relationship was learning things about your partner and telling them things about you. Wesker had just effectively denied him that right. Then it all clicked into place. Krauser. "He asked Krauser"

"Krauser"? Chris frowned.

"Yeah" Leon said darkly. "Krauser knew all this stuff. We went on a bunch of missions together and as you know yourself, you get to know your partner. We used to talk in dead time, when we were just sitting around waiting for our target to show or whatever. Told each other allsorts" He shook his head at the writing. "Wesker really knows how to use everyone to his advantage doesn't he"?

"Let's go" Chris said firmly. "No point standing here and staring at this stuff" He started to move forwards, crossing the court and wrenching open a rusty gate. Leon stared at the words for a minute more before following him. He needed to get his focus back. He knew what Wesker was saying by displaying all of his private information. This is what I know about you. This is everything I could've and could still use against you. You're lucky you're still alive.

Leon moved through the gate quickly and up a set of green-painted metal stairs. The stairs led onto a gantry around the side of a building, providing access to a heavily tagged billboard and then back down again along the other side of the building. Leon remembered how he'd had to climb over a rotten blue dumpster at the bottom to reach the next alleyway. A woman had been there, zombified, and he recalled how she had just seemed incredibly ill. Indeed, if it hadn't been for the blank eyes and the torn skin, she would've just appeared to have been very ill. She'd puked on his boots as he'd stood; taking aim at more zombies that blocked the narrow passage. There was nothing like that now. Just a dumpster and a long alley stretching off left that ended in an iron gate. The gate opened onto a shopping street, police barricades on the right, a broken down Greyhound bus on the left. Directly across the road from them was a café, the seats outside occupied by still bodies caked in gore. The bus was part of a crash scene, blocking the street, and at one end Leon could make out the smashed front end of the white van, crumpled into the alleyway they had been in before. The street around them was littered with more convincing dummies of corpses and the stench, although obviously manufactured, was unbearable.

The bus lights were still on and Chris could make out plenty of dead bodies in most of the seats. Despite how different it looked, Chris recognised this as the street that ran directly in front of the RPD building. He used to walk down it to and from work every day and he'd spent many afternoons sitting in the café, having a coffee and catching up with Claire's college exploits. He'd left Raccoon before it'd all turned to hell and even though Jill had told him some of what had happened, it hadn't prepared him for seeing the town he'd grown up in reduced to some sort of Umbrella testing ground or at least a representation of it. He tried not to focus on the destruction around him. He clung onto those happy memories of him and Claire and, of course, Leon. Jill had been right when she'd said that he and Leon needed each other to get through this. Without Leon, all of this would've been so much harder.

"This was exactly how it was before." Leon spoke suddenly, nodding at the street. "I was heading for the Police Station and it looks like it's the same way he's leading us now"

They stepped forward, the stink of rotting flesh heavy in the frigid air. A sudden wet slap noise made Chris turn around. A body, impaled through the torso on the back of a broken chair was slowly pulling itself up. The metal spikes eventually popped out of the collapsed torso and, with no regard for the wound, the corpse staggered forward.

"Fucking Zombie"! He shouted, opening fire. Leon's gunshots joined his and he felt the young man's back press against his own back. More had obviously started to rise from the bus and the other side of the street. Other bodies from the café were now heading towards them, joined by ones that had clawed themselves free of the parked cars. In what felt like seconds, a whole crowd surrounded them. Chris continued to fire, feeling Leon occasionally bump into his back from his own shots. Each zombie's head popped as he repeated hit the mark again and again. He'd once been S.T.A.R.S finest marksman and he was living up to that reputation now.

"You ok"? He shouted at Leon.

"Yep" came the reply. "Got half of them down. You"?

"One more" Chris replied, firing and sending the final zombie on his side down to the floor. He whipped round quickly and started firing alongside Leon. They floored the remaining zombies in seconds, each body hitting the ground with a wet thump. They reloaded quickly in case another wave decided to descend. "Think I won that round."

"Fuck you" Leon said good-naturedly. "We need to go through the bus"

"Gotcha" Chris nodded. They headed for the blood soaked bus and moved through it quickly. A straggler tried to climb through the window and grab at them but he managed to fend it off by delivering a strong blow to the creature's soft head. It moaned and slumped out of the window, dead.

On the other side of the bus, the street widened. An abandoned fire truck was sitting skewed across the street. Many of the squad cars that joined it were smashed, the bodies of beat cops and SWAT members littered all around. Chris fired a cursory shot into the nearest body and moved closer to examine it.

"More dummies" He said after checking out the hollow hole the bullet had created.

On their left was a low wall topped with wrought iron railings, which ran the length of the street up to a roadblock. Through the railings Chris could see the courtyard full of saplings and planters and beyond that, the front entrance of the RPD building. Chris briefly wondered how Wesker had gotten the plant life to grow without natural sunlight but as they pushed the gate open and walked into the courtyard, he could see that the glossiness of the leaves was too unnatural. They were obviously plastic. The grass in the courtyard was also fake, obviously Astroturf. As they moved towards the entrance to the building, he noticed that the windows they were passing show nothing but sheer blackness inside.

The double doors were just as he remembered, stained a deep bluish green and framed at either side by an American flag and one bearing the RPD insignia. The only difference was the photo that was pinned to the door. It was the same picture that he'd seen in Spain. Leon and Sherry outside the miniature golf course, smiling happily. Chris reached out to try and grab it before Leon saw but he was too late. Leon stopped in front of the photo, staring at it blankly for a few moments. Chris couldn't be sure if it was the one from Leon's house or a copy. It didn't look like Leon's copy. It was creased and worn at the edges as if someone had kept it. Leon pulled it off and folded it up, placing it into one of his pockets wordlessly.

"You never really told me much about Sherry" Chris said gently.

"No" was Leon's quiet response. It wasn't forceful or defensive. Just sad. Chris didn't want to push him any further.

Chris put a hand on the door and braced himself for a full on recreation of the RPD building and, no doubt, another lot of monsters. He took a deep breath and pushed open the door, Leon following close behind. Instead of the cavernous loneliness of the RPD main hall it was a plain room with a high ceiling, painted entirely grey and bare aside from a huge extractor fan in the right hand wall and a series of strip lights across the ceiling. The well-lit room seemed a stark contrast to the pools of murky street lamplight 'outside'. It was clean and empty with no shadows hiding anything.

If he had to take a guess, Chris figured that they were done with the games and recreations and had actually reached the place where Wesker carried out his work. This room was functional and straight forward compared to the elaborate and flamboyant reconstructions they'd just been through. At the end of the room was a shiny chrome lift door with a single button at the side of it that had an arrow pointed upwards. Chris moved to call the lift but turned around quickly when he heard a choked gasp come from Leon.

Just like he'd seen him do shortly after their arrival in Antarctica, he was hunched over, clutching his stomach. Chris raced over to him and managed to catch him before he crashed to the floor. He helped him to his hands and knees and watched in horror, as he started to cough and retch so hard his entire body undulated and shook.

"Shit Leon…" Chris stroked the hair from his partner's sweaty face. There was nothing he could do. He'd already realised that earlier. It was obviously some sort of attack caused by the virus inside of him. All he could was wait for it to pass over just like before. It was hard to do when the younger man was obviously in incredible pain. He continued to cough and retch, taking in huge gulps of air in between each cough. "That's it Leon" Chris found himself saying encouragingly. "Just keep breathing…it's ok…it's ok." He kept stroking his hair; more for his own benefit that Leon's. When he raised his hand to continue he noticed the spots of blood on his forearm. The blood in his veins felt as if it had turned to ice. "Oh fuck…" He put his hand to his partner's mouth. "C'mon Leon, cough into my hand…that's it…" Leon coughed again and when Chris removed his hand, a small pool of blood was sitting in his palm. He wiped it quickly across his t-shirt. This wasn't good. He felt Leon slump into his hold, the coughing subsiding and making way of deep gulps of air. He carefully pulled Leon off his hands and knees and helped him into a sitting position with his back against the wall. He offered him a hit from his water bottle, which Leon took gratefully, gulping it down quickly. "Leon, you were coughing up…"

"I know" Leon interrupted, wiping his mouth and setting the water bottle down. "I could taste it." He added.

"You're getting worse…" Chris said. He felt as if he was on the verge of tears. Stupid recreations, sick dummies, even fucked up photographs; these were all things that he could cope with. Leon coughing up blood, this was something he couldn't cope with. It meant that whatever was going on with the virus, it was getting worse.

"S'probably just from the coughing" Leon replied, his voice raw and croaky from the coughing. "Ruptured a blood vessel or something" He held a hand. "Help me up"

Chris grabbed Leon's hand and pulled him back to his feet. He wasn't in the slightest bit convinced that the blood was from a ruptured blood vessel. He was pretty sure Leon wasn't either. He was obviously just saying it to try and make him feel better. He pulled Leon close and gave him a kiss. He felt the younger man's arms wrap around him and hug back tightly.

"I love you" Chris had said the words before he'd even thought about it. He hadn't wanted to say it in the middle of one of Wesker's facilities. He'd wanted to say it while they were having a romantic meal or while they were lying in bed together. He couldn't believe that he'd just come out with it like that!

"I love you too" Leon's reply was quiet and simple and Chris knew that he hadn't messed things up at all.

"Good. Glad we got that sorted." Chris said matter-of-factly, feeling a blush creep onto his cheeks. He never was good at the whole pouring your heart out sort of thing. "And don't give me shit about blood vessels. It's the virus. You know it. I know it. We need to find a cure for it and soon"

"Well this place looks like it might be the start of some labs" Leon replied. "Let's go up the lift and see where it leads us"

"Are you alright to keep going or do you need to rest for a bit"? Chris asked, looking Leon over. He still looked pale and a little shaky. He looked exhausted but that was nothing new. He'd looked like that for days.

"We'll go" Leon answered, breaking away from Chris' grip and reaching for the lift's call button, pressing it.

"Have some more water first" Chris ordered, picking the bottle up from the floor and holding it out. Leon rolled his eyes but didn't argue, taking another hit before handing it back.

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The lift journey was long and once again, it was impossible to know how many floors they were climbing. Leon's stomach muscles were aching and his throat was still raw from the coughing fit. He'd hoped that his excuse of a ruptured blood vessel would work but it obviously hadn't. Even though Chris hadn't read any of the literature on the Plagas virus, he wasn't stupid. Leon was just thankful that the older man didn't have a clue as to what coughed up blood actually meant. He knew that it was a worsening of the symptoms but that was it. Leon however, knew perfectly well what it meant. It meant that the egg that had been planted inside of his body when Wesker shot him had finally hatched. It had lain dormant in his system for over a year and now Wesker had 'activated' it, it was growing at an alarming rate. He knew that once the egg had hatched that it was potentially harder to kill it. Slowly his personality would ebb away and he would no longer be able to resist Wesker's commands. He had a rough idea of what Wesker might want him to do and the sheer thought of it was enough to make him want to take his own life right now. Only he couldn't do that. He had to keep hoping that they would find a cure. The likelihood of stumbling across it though wasn't good. He was pretty sure that Wesker wouldn't just leave something like that lying around. Unless it was another part of his game. Make them both suffer like this and then present them with the anti-virus. Another way to try and break them both. Maybe Wesker wanted to drive him to the point of suicide? He didn't make any secret of the fact that he wasn't interested in him in any way. Maybe that was the game. Wesker wanted to push him to kill himself so that he could finally break Chris. His mind spun with all the possibilities.

The lift stopped and the door opened to reveal a considerably colder room, almost uncomfortably so. Skylights were built into the ceiling a few storeys up, letting natural light filter in. The sudden drop in temperature reminded them of their location. With the heating of the mansion and the city streets, they'd forgotten that they were in Antarctica. To the left of the lift was a small security office. The door to the office was open and they could clearly see that it was empty and a fine layer of dust covered the fixtures and fittings, indicating that it hadn't been used for a while. Directly in front of them, across the large expanse of the room, was a freight elevator that appeared to go to the surface. It had no sides, just a hand-rail all around the edge. Leon noted its location as a possible escape route should they need it. Off to their right was another door made of heavy steel.

Wordlessly, they both headed for the door. It slid open on oiled tracks with a hissing noise, obviously controlled by a motion sensor. It opened onto another corridor. Its ceiling and walls were painted a sterile white and the floor was made up of perforated metal panels that made their footsteps clang loudly in the silence. The corridor ended at a T-junction. The right branch of the corridor led to a break room. They examined it but found nothing of interest. There was a sofa, some lockers, a vending machine and a desktop computer. The only remotely interesting thing was the mug of tea that sat on the desk at the side of the computer. It was half-drunk and still appeared to be warm, a lipstick mark clearly imprinted onto its rim.

"Well unless Wesker is doing an Alfred Ashford, it looks like he's got staff here" Chris remarked upon examining the mug.

"Alfred Ashford"? Leon asked. He was sure he'd heard the name mentioned before but it didn't mean anything to him.

"I'll tell you when you're a grown up" Chris answered infuriatingly. Leon shook his head and decided to let it go.

They moved out of the break room and headed down the left branch of the T-junction. It opened into a cold stairwell featureless except for strip lights built into the wall at intervals. The steel stairs seemed to lead down two floors. They moved down one floor quickly, stopping in a long steel and concrete hall that opened out into a waiting area with a bench and potted plants. There was also a huge shutter to their right adorned with warning symbols and signs such as 'Use Only In Case Of Emergency' and 'Restricted Personnel Only'. A large red biohazard symbol was emblazoned across it. On closer inspection, Leon could see that it was locked shut with an electronic lock/card reader by it.

There was another corridor at the other end of the waiting area and they took this, cautious as they turned a corner. The corridor opened out into another room with high ceilings. Large, thick pipes snaked across one of the walls and a big heavy door took up the entirety of another wall, a black mat in front of it. A sign on the door read 'Authorized Personnel Only'. It was looking like they were finally in the labs. Leon stepped forward to try and work out a way to get the door open. As soon as his feet touched the black mat, the door open slowly. It revealed a large white room cluttered with computer terminals on white metal tables. Notice boards with all sorts of chemical jargon and equations on them adorned the walls, alongside a couple of large light boxes with X-ray films of unknown body parts attached to them. Wires trailed across the floor from one side to another, connecting computer terminals to unrecognisable instruments and things like centrifuges loaded with glass sample tubes.

A huge table was at the other side of the room, cluttered with lab equipment and notepads and vials of different coloured liquids. It was then that Leon noticed the woman standing at it with her back to them. She was tall and thin with shoulder length blond hair styled into a neat bob. She was slightly leant over, seemingly engrossed in whatever it was she was studying, oblivious to the fact that the door had just opened and that he and Chris were standing there watching her. Leon nodded at Chris who rose his handgun.

"Hands up where we can see them and slowly turn around" He shouted. The woman jumped in shock but wordlessly complied, raising her hands in the air and turning around. There was a confused look on her face, which quickly turned to utter shock when she saw them. Leon knew that her look was reflected in his own features.

A terrible flashback to his night in Raccoon hit him. Rounding a corner in those disgusting, vile sewers to find this very woman standing there, her gun raised. Without any warning she fired at him and the bullet hit his left shoulder. He cried out in pain and she ran away. He could still feel the bullet's hot kiss as he heard her footsteps thunder away. But how could it be? She'd died that night. He'd seen it happen before his very eyes. She'd made him promise to tell Sherry that she loved her…

"Annette"? He choked out when his words finally returned to him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Chris' confused expression.

"An-Annette was my mo-mother's name" The woman replied nervously. Her hands were trembling visibly.

"Oh my god. Sherry"? Leon immediately dropped his gun. Of course it was Sherry. He hadn't seen her for years and when she invaded his thoughts, she was still that twelve-year-old girl he'd rescued from Raccoon. But that was years ago. She was a grown woman now, well into her twenties. Her eyes widened in surprise when she finally realised who he was.

"Leon"? She was looking nervously at Chris who still had his gun raised, albeit not as tensely. Her blue eyes held a mixture of fear and surprise. "What are you doing here"? She sounded a lot like her mother when she spoke and the physical resemblance was spooky.

"I could ask you the same question" He replied. He moved forward, wanting to pull her into his arms. He'd heard nothing about her since she'd been taken from him and although he'd tried to find out, he'd always been told that she was no longer his concern. He felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder, yanking him backwards, he turned around to see Chris' face set hard, his mouth a grim line.

"Hold on a second" He ordered. "This is a lovely reunion and all but she works for Wesker" His gun was still pointed at her head. Leon knew Chris had a point. Sherry wasn't actually his family, she had no real reason to be loyal to him and she could easily be a threat, just as her mother and father had been. Despite this, Leon still wanted to tear the gun from the older man's grip. "You need to start giving us some answers" He directed the remark at her, as cold and unyielding as he'd been with Ada back in Africa. Chris was right to be suspicious, Leon knew that. It was just hard to fight that protective instinct he had towards Sherry. In his mind, just as she'd always been, she was still his ward.

"W…what do you want to know"? She asked, her eyes not leaving Leon's, almost as if she couldn't believe he was actually standing there. Her hands were still trembling violently and she looked as if she wanted to burst into tears. Enemy or no, she was only a young woman and she didn't deserve to be treated this way.

"Chris, stop it" He commanded forcefully. Chris glared at him in disbelief. Leon chose to ignore it. "She's obviously terrified," He pointed out. "If she was going to try anything don't you think she would've done already" Not wanting to hear any argument Chris might have, he turned his attentions back to Sherry. "He does have a point though," He said gently. "Why are you here"?

"I've been here for years" Sherry replied, swallowing hard. "Albert brought me here after I graduated early from college" She explained, her hands still in the air. "He said he had some important work for me to do. He said he was sorry for what I went through and that he needed my help to make sure nothing like Raccoon City ever happened again. He set me up here and gave me my own lab-"

"Are you blind"? Chris snapped, so suddenly and harshly that he made her jump.

"Chris"! Leon chastised.

"Do you have any idea what he's doing you stupid little girl"? Chris fumed. "He's not preventing another outbreak! He's encouraging one"! Leon knew what Chris was doing. All of his anger about their situation, about his infection, was coming out. Sherry, to him, represented the face of Wesker's work and he needed someone to direct all of his anger at. Leon opened his mouth to try and calm him down but Sherry got there first.

"I know that" She said levelly. She started to drop her hands and when Chris didn't argue, she carried on. "Contrary to what you've just assumed, I'm not a stupid little girl" She said it as confidently as she could, even though she was still shaking. "It didn't take me very long to work out what he was doing. I have relative freedom at this facility. He doesn't really interfere with my work or oversee in it any way. I'm supposed to be developing the Plagas Virus for him. He claims that he needs it to operate at its maximum potential to destroy any remaining G or Veronica creatures. I know that he's planning to use it on humans to create an army"

"How did you end up working for him in the first place"? Leon asked.

"Albert's my godfather" Sherry admitted. "He was good friends with my father and they worked together for years. He'd always promised to look after me should anything happen to my parents" She looked at the ground. "When…when you went away I didn't have anyone…He paid my college fees and supported me throughout the course. He gave me an apartment to live in with a couple of college friends. He gave me money which he claimed came from my mother and father's personal savings but I was never too sure. I'd always wanted to go to college and even though I had my reservations about him he was the only way I could achieve my dream," She explained.

"I didn't want to leave you Sherry" Leon replied. "Trust me. I didn't have a choice, they never gave me a choice…"

"I know" Sherry nodded. "He tried feeding me lies. He told me that you'd chosen your career over me, that I was your little project that enabled you to play the hero. I never believed him," She explained, offering him a small smile. "I know you weren't like that"

"They wouldn't let me see you. Or even tell me where you were" Leon replied, feeling almost as if he was on the verge of tears. For years Sherry had haunted his thoughts. It was very rare that a day would go by without him thinking about her and how she was. It had hurt so much when they'd been torn apart from each other, almost as if he'd lost a family member. Every single year he sent her a birthday card. It was silly. He never addressed it. He didn't know the address. He'd just written her name on the envelope and put it into the post box. There was something about going through those motions that eased his pain a little.

Chris watched the exchange, feeling as if he'd been pushed to the sidelines. He could understand the happiness and probable relief that Leon was feeling at seeing Sherry again but the situation was making him feel a little uneasy. They were standing in the middle of one of Wesker's facilities! Sherry was his goddaughter! She was obviously also very intelligent. What if this was all another one of Wesker's traps? They hadn't come this far and through so much to fail at the last hurdle.

"So if you knew all along that was he's been doing is so bad, why the hell didn't you get out of here"? He suddenly demanded, ignoring the filthy look that Leon shot him.

Sherry opened her mouth to explain but was cut off when Leon started to cough. Chris forgot all about watching her and turned his attentions to his lover. Leon had slumped against one of the counters, clutching his stomach, his coughing becoming increasingly more violent. Chris was at his side in an instant, grabbing hold of the younger man's hand and rubbing his back at the same time. He felt Leon lean into him as the coughs and convulsions wracked his body once more. Blood flew from his lips, spotting the floor and spattering Chris' arm and uniform.

"Oh god…" Chris heard Sherry gasp and, just like him, she rushed to Leon's other side. Leon gasped, frantically sucking in air as he tried to explain that he was ok. "Help me get him over there" Sherry ordered, nodding her head towards a small gurney in the corner of the room. Chris nodded and wordlessly helped her move Leon, slowly and carefully, over to the gurney.

"Fine…" Leon gasped. "Don't…worry…"

"Shut up" Chris said firmly as he helped Sherry get Leon into a comfortable position on the gurney.

"How long has he been infected"? Chris was suddenly aware that Sherry was speaking to him. Her eyes were full of concern but also a steely determination. Even though he wasn't sure whether or not he fully trusted her, her look gave him hope.

"Not long…" Chris replied. How long had it been? He felt as if they'd been chasing Wesker forever.

"Plagas Virus…" Sherry was muttering to herself as she grabbed some tissues for Leon to cough into. "Egg's already hatched…"

"Is there something you can do for him"? Chris asked. Leon was clutching his hand so tightly; his knuckles were beginning to go white. Chris wiped the younger man's sweaty fringe away from his forehead and kissed the clammy skin. When he moved away, he could see the fear in Leon's blue eyes.

"We can…trust…her…" He said in between coughs. The tissue in his free hand had become saturated with blood. The red liquid stained his partner's lips and chin. Something needed to be done. He trusted Leon's judgement implicitly. If he deemed Sherry to be trustworthy then Chris was just going to have to learn to trust her too, despite his reservations.

"Leon"? Sherry was back at their side. "I've got something that can help you" She put her hand on his shoulder. "I developed an anti-virus for the Plagas…" She explained as Leon nodded.

"Give it to him then"! Chris demanded. Leon's coughing fit seemed to have dissipated and the younger man was now slumped onto the gurney's thin pillow. His face was horribly pale and little beads of sweat had gathered on his forehead. His eyes were dull with pain and it was obvious that he was struggling to focus on what Sherry was saying.

"There's a problem" Sherry replied irritably. Chris had to admire her confidence. She was still a young girl, a little slip of a thing and here she was giving him attitude. Maybe he'd misjudged her. "I haven't tested it on a human subject or when the egg is fully hatched like yours obviously is" She continued. "What I'm effectively saying is that I don't fully know what will happen if I give you the anti-virus. I can guarantee that it will kill the Plagas but what I don't know is what side effects you'll experience and how painful it will be," She sounded apologetic and Chris felt himself warming towards her. From the way she was speaking and the concerned way she was looking at Leon, it was obvious that she cared for him a great deal.

"But you'll still give it to him right"? Chris asked.

"If its what he wants" Sherry said with a nod. "I have some basic medical equipment here in the lab that I can use should he arrest or fit but I don't think either one of those outcomes is very likely" She turned her attention back to Leon. "I'm hoping that the most it will do is make you vomit or possibly briefly lose consciousness"

"It's worth the risk" Leon said quietly. His eyes met Chris'. "What do you say"?

"Damn right" Chris replied confidently. He didn't like the idea that Leon might suffer in any way but a little puking or passing out would be a lot better than a lifetime of servitude to Albert Wesker. "I'll be right here for you"

"Of course you will be" Leon smiled despite the obvious pain he was in. "You're annoying like that"

Chris nodded but couldn't help the fear that slowly crept up within him. Sherry was busy at her desk, obviously readying whatever it was she needed to administer the anti-virus. Chris kissed Leon's sweaty forehead once more and gave his hand a quick squeeze before walking over to the desk.

Sherry was bent over it, opening a small, gold, circular shaped locket. Inside the locket was a tiny vial, which was, Chris assumed, the anti-virus. Seeing Chris' shadow fall over her desk, Sherry quickly turned around.

"Albert would never find it here" She said by way of explanation.

"You won't-" Chris started. His mouth had suddenly become horribly dry. He swallowed hard and tried again. "You won't, let him…die will you"? He finished quietly. He hated showing any kind of vulnerability to a stranger; particularly one who was so closely linked to Wesker but the fear of losing Leon far outweighed something as trivial and silly as that. He looked over at Leon, who was still laying prone on the gurney, his eyes closed. He looked utterly exhausted. "If he dies…"

"He won't die" Sherry cut him off quickly. She turned her attentions back to the small vial, extracting its contents using a hypodermic needle. When the syringe was full, she tapped it a few times to let out any air and carefully placed a cap on it. "It's ready" She took a small first aid kit from one of her desk drawers and walked back over to Leon who, upon hearing their footsteps, opened his eyes. "Are you ready"? She asked gently.

"Born ready" Leon replied, smirking at Chris.

"But are you ready now"? Chris finished for him. He knew what Leon was doing. He was trying to ease the situation by messing around. Only, Chris had never felt less like laughing in his life. They were effectively going into this blind with no idea of what the consequences might be, despite Sherry's apparent confidence.

Chris watched as Sherry opened the first aid kit and started to wipe a patch of skin on Leon's arm with an alcohol wipe. The dirt, blood and sweat that had collected throughout their time in Africa and Antarctica came away, staining the pad a horrible grey-red colour. The patch of skin looked alarmingly bright and pale against the filthy skin that surrounded it. Chris looked down at his own arms, realising for the first time just how dirty they both were. He resolved to take a very long bath when they returned home, preferably with Leon in the tub with him. That was, of course, presuming that Leon made it home.

"Stop it" Leon's voice jolted him back to reality. "Stop thinking the worst" He ordered, almost as if he'd read Chris' mind. He let out a quiet hiss of pain as Sherry gently sunk the needle into his upper arm.

Chris felt as if time had completely stopped. He waited with baited breath for some kind reaction. Judging by Sherry's intense expression, she was feeling the exact same way. Leon lay back on the gurney, his eyes closed.

Finally, after what felt like an age spent fretting and feeling stupidly scared, Leon vomited. He managed to lean to the side of the gurney so that the vomit spewed onto the shiny tiled floor. It splashed onto the toes of Chris' hiking trainers. It was then that he noticed the colour. Chris, for better or for worse, considered himself somewhat of an expert on puke. He'd spent enough of his life with his head down a toilet bowl after a heavy night's drinking to know what was normal and what wasn't. He'd seen some interesting kinds in his time, like the bright blue puke he'd had after chasing a few shots of some blue coloured spirit. What was coming from Leon's mouth however, was far from normal and far from something to boast about later to the guys in the bar. Leon's puke was an unnatural greenish-white colour. The slightly acidic, bile-like smell seemed stronger than normal too.

Sherry snapped into action, quickly locating a small basin and bringing it over for Leon to use. He nodded gratefully as he retched and heaved, vomiting over and over again. Chris stood by his side, gently rubbing his partner's back. He felt a strange mixture of concern and relief. It was obviously a huge relief that Leon hadn't lost consciousness but at the same time, it was concerning that he was vomiting so much.

"I think…I'm done…" Leon said after a few moments of dry heaves. Sherry offered him a water bottle and Leon sipped from it gratefully, occasionally swilling the water around his mouth and spitting it out into the bucket.

"How do you feel"? Sherry asked. It was then Chris noticed that she had hold of Leon's hand and was gently stroking it. If Chris needed any more convincing of how much she truly cared for him then that was it. He offered her a smile and she smiled back at it despite her present concern for Leon.

"Shaky…" Leon answered, taking one last hit from the water bottle before handing it back to her. "But all things considered…not too bad"

"So the anti-virus has worked"? Chris asked eagerly.

"Hopefully" Sherry replied. "The only way to know for sure is to perform a scan. I don't have the necessary equipment here unfortunately"

"It's alright," Leon said reassuringly. "I agreed to this knowing that there were no certainties"

"I'd feel happier if I knew for sure" Chris grumbled. He was staring at Leon, desperately looking for any signs of the godforsaken virus still being there. He was pale, but then, Leon was always pale. He didn't look as ill as he had done just a few moments ago but that seemed to happen after an 'attack'. "If that thing is still in you then we need to find out as soon as possible," He said, nodding to confirm his own thoughts. "We need to get you home"

"God, home sounds good right now" Leon replied. He held out his hand and Chris took it as he slowly and carefully got to his feet. He swayed slightly but quickly regained his balance. He turned his attentions to Sherry. "And you're going to come with us right"?

"I…I can't leave" Sherry said. "He never said as much but I've always been given the impression that I don't really have a choice when it comes to my being here" She swallowed hard, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I know that he sees me as nothing more than a valuable commodity because of my intelligence"

Leon felt a horrible churning in his stomach that he knew had nothing to do with his recent dose of anti-virus. Sherry might've grown up and gotten her college degree, but the person who was standing in front of him now looked horribly like the scared little girl that haunted his memories of Raccoon City. He wanted to gather her up in his arms and just hold her, like he had done during those first few nights when they'd holed in some horrible motel at the back of beyond just after the incident. She'd suffered terrible nightmares back then, waking up in the middle of the night, crying out for her mother and father, babbling incoherently about the various monsters they'd encountered. He'd been there for her, running into her little bedroom in the middle of the night, hugging her as she sobbed relentlessly against his chest. He was all she had in the world and he'd struggled to create some sort of normalcy for her. The government had granted him temporary custody and given him time to get his life sorted before sending him to Basic Training. So he'd dipped into his savings and found a small apartment in Washington. He'd done his research and found a good therapist who'd agreed to meet with Sherry once a week. He'd enrolled her in a local school and made sure that he was always there to collect her when the school day finished. He kept busy, for both their sakes, filling weekends with activities like bowling or going to the movies and that one time they'd gone miniature golfing. The higher ups in the Government had promised him that he would be granted full guardianship of her and, for all intents and purposes, be her foster father.

But then he'd been called to Basic Training. He'd arranged for his brother and his wife to look after her whilst he was away. Only the government had lied. The goodbye he'd given her when he left for Basic Training had been the last time he'd spoken to her. She didn't go to his brother's place. He didn't know where she'd gone. She was torn from his life just like that. He was ordered to forget her; she was no longer his concern. She was being looked after and that was all he needed to know. Any attempts he made to find her or contact her were thwarted. He'd thought about her every day since.

"I won't let him hurt you," He said gently. He reached out for her hand and she took it. He could feel her trembling. He was aware that Chris was watching them carefully but no longer seemed to be wary of her. Using this as his confirmation, Leon pulled her into a tight hug. "You understand that he has to die"? He felt her nod against his shoulder. She was no longer that little girl. He couldn't chase away her demons as easily but, just as he had been all those years ago, he was determined to rescue her. "He's too dangerous to be kept alive"

"I can help you" Sherry broke the hug and took a step backwards, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her lab coat.

"Do you know where he is"? Chris asked eagerly. Leon felt the older man give his hand a quick, reassuring squeeze.

"He might be in his private quarters" She replied. "That shutter that you probably saw before you came in here, that leads there. I have a copy of the card key" She hurried over to her desk and pulled a small silver key out of her pocket. She unlocked the bottom drawer and quickly located what looked like a blank silver credit card. She handed it over to Leon who looked down at it in confusion.

"You're not coming with us"? He asked.

"Leave the shutter open and I'll follow" She replied. "I've got something to help you but I need to go and fetch it"

"Then we'll wait" Leon said adamantly, ignoring Chris' exasperated sigh. "We'll wait here while you go get it"

Sherry shook her head.

"He probably already knows that you're here" She nodded at the card key. "You need to go after him before he gets the chance to escape. He's got all sorts of creatures here that he will unleash if he leaves. I'll be ok. I know my way around here"

"She's right Leon" Chris interrupted. "We need to get moving. I don't know about you but I'm done chasing the psycho around his fucked up facilities"

Leon still had his reservations but he knew that both Chris and Sherry had a point. They'd already spent too much of their lives chasing Albert Wesker so now they'd been presented with the perfect opportunity to end things once and for all, they had to take it. For the greater good, he told himself with only a hint of bitterness. Something he'd been fighting for most of his adult life. Sherry was an adult now. She could handle herself and like she said, she knew her way around the place. They weren't in Raccoon City now, strangers to the hallways of the Police Station. He took a deep breath, fighting down whatever internal argument remained before nodding in agreement. He slipped the card key into his pocket.

"Let's go"

"See you soon" Sherry said, giving his hand a final squeeze. Obviously thinking that Leon was about to change his mind, she hurried off towards a door in the corner of the room. Now that she was gone he really had no choice but to keep pressing on until they found the man responsible for all of this.

000000000000000000000

They made their way back to the shutter and quickly located the card key machine. Leon slipped it into the slot and a row of lights above the shutter slowly turned green. The shutter started to open smoothly and it was only half way up when Chris moved forwards and ducked under it. Leon followed close behind, a horrible sense of foreboding invading his senses.

And he was right to be worried. They'd just stepped into a massive room, akin to the size of a small aircraft hangar. The floor was made of grey tiles and the walls that sickening sterile white colour. There were two doors along the back wall, one of which presumably led to Wesker's private quarters. Above them was a gantry that encircled the room and above that, a steel grey ceiling that looked as if it opened up. Leon wondered if this actually did serve as a hangar, probably for Wesker's private aircraft, the gantry designed to make it easier for any maintenance work to be carried out on the fuselage.

A door slammed suddenly, startling them both. A loud clacking of boots on the tiled floor echoed around the room. Simultaneously they turned their attentions to one of the doors along the back wall. Wesker was walking towards them, slowly and deliberately, the arrogant predatory smile across his face. He was dressed entirely in black, a black fitted top with tight black leather pants and black boots ending just below his knee. His black shades hide his eyes as usual and his blonde hair was slicked back.

"Going for the bondage queen look are we"? Chris taunted, his voice a deep growl, full of hatred.

"Christopher" Wesker said smoothly, as if he'd just noticed they were standing there. "I really think such a comment is unnecessary" He continued to stalk forwards. "I think, given the current circumstances, that such a description would be more suited to you don't you think"? His smirk widened. "I would have never taken you for a homosexual. Although" His head turned to regard Leon. "I must admit you have chosen a pretty one" He opened his mouth to continue but whatever he said was drowned out by a shot from Chris' shotgun.

"I've had with you" Chris snarled as Wesker easily dodged the shell. "Never did know when to shut the fuck up"! He fired again and Leon joined him, both of them firing off shots as quickly as they could. Wesker dodged each bullet and shell easily, using his inhuman speed. He kept smirking throughout, a condescending and patronizing twitch of his lips that told them they were wasting their time. Chris obviously thought so too. Without any warning, he dropped his shotgun and rushed Wesker, colliding with him and nearly knocking him off his feet. Wesker recovered quickly and kicked Chris hard in the knee causing the older man to cry out in pain. As he stumbled backwards Wesker punched him hard in the face. Chris, still stumbling, responded by spitting blood in his face. Wesker snarled and Leon used his momentary focus on Chris to line up a perfect headshot. He was about to pull the trigger when Chris was back on his former captain, punching him in the side of his head.

"Chris! What the hell are you doing"? Leon called out. "I could've shot you"!

"Yes Chris" Wesker said, the smirk back on his face. "What are you doing? Surely you don't think that just because you've pumped your body full of steroids you're a match for me"?

Chris responded with another punch, a hard right hook that Wesker easily dodged, coming back quickly with his own right hook, connecting perfectly with Chris' ribs.

"Pathetic" Wesker snarled as Chris reeled back. This time he didn't give Chris any time to recover. He moved forward gracefully and backhanded him across the face. Blood splattering across his black leather glove as Chris' lip split. He followed up with a swift knee to the older man's stomach.

This all seemed to happen in seconds and Leon found himself torn. He knew that he couldn't shoot because there was a danger he would Chris. Rushing Wesker himself wasn't a good idea because he didn't have Chris strength. He frantically looked around for something he could use as a weapon but the only thing that looked remotely useful was a fire axe encased behind some glass.

Chris was on the floor now, blood smeared across his face. Wesker was standing over him, laughing to himself. He moved like lightening, one hand grabbing hold of Chris' thick neck and hauling him to his feet and then a few inches off the floor so he dangled. He moaned with pain at the movement, struggling in Wesker's vice-like grip. Wesker started to squeeze his neck; Chris' kicks became more desperate as he was effectively choked. Leon resisted the urge to panic. He needed to act and he needed to act fast. He grabbed his combat knife and, with the deadly accuracy that had gained him fleeting fame at Basic Training, let it fly. The silver blade sunk into Wesker's left shoulder causing the twisted man to cry out in pain. He released his grip and Chris crashed to the floor. Wesker turned round quickly, his gaze turning to Leon.

"Pesky rat" He spat, making no movements to extract the knife from his shoulder. "How about I make you kill your precious boyfriend hmm? Make you choke him with your bare hands whilst he pleads with you? Then when he's dead, how would you like me to release my control over you so you can admire your work"?

"Do it" Leon said with a shrug. There was a brief flicker of doubt in Leon's stomach. He was taking a big risk. If Sherry's anti-virus didn't work and Wesker could still control him, he didn't doubt that the ex-S.T.A.R.S captain would make him kill Chris. Wesker was grinning at him, obviously relishing the situation. Behind him, Chris was slowly attempting to get back to his feet.

Wesker opened his mouth, no doubt to command Leon to attack when he suddenly jerked forwards, almost as if he'd been hit in the back. There was a brief look of confusion on Wesker's face as he whipped around to see who'd hit him. He snarled when he discovered the perpetrator. Leon followed his eye line and saw Sherry standing on the gantry, a large rifle in her hands.

"It's sedative"! She yelled out, catching Leon's eye. "It should slow him down-"

Leon watched in horror as, in a matter of seconds, a thick, slimy black tentacle shot out of Wesker's shoulder and wrapped around the railing of the gantry. With an inhuman cry of rage, Wesker hauled the railing, rocking the gantry. Sherry let out a scream of terror as the rifle fell from her hands, narrowly missing Chris' head. Leon shot at Wesker's tentacle but to no avail. Just like the beast back in Spain, the bullets merely bounced off its slick skin. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sherry frantically trying to remain on her feet as the gantry rocked and swayed dangerously. He looked to his left and saw Chris aiming the rifle at the flailing tentacle.

But it was all too late. With one final, co-ordinated tug from the tentacle, Sherry lost her balance. A blood-curdling high-pitched scream seemed to reverberate around the entire hangar until it was silenced by a sickening crunch.

Leon had watched her fall. Unable to tear his eyes away from his former ward's fatal fall. She'd landed on her head, her entire body weight forcing her neck to snap. Her lifeless body slumped to the ground, her head a mess of blood and gore, splattered across the pristine white tiles. A scream caught in Leon's throat and stayed there, unable to escape as he stared at her body.

He'd turned his gaze to Wesker who was slowly curling the tentacle back into his body. A new, intense rush of hatred invaded his senses. Everything this man had put him through, put Chris through and put Sherry through flashed before his eyes in glorious Technicolor. White hot rage clouded his vision as he ran forwards, focussing on the knife stuck in the blonde man's shoulder. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he yanked the silver blade from the man's flesh and tried to dig it straight into his neck.

Despite the effect of Sherry's sedative kicking in, Wesker was still quick. Leon felt the blow to his ribs and tried to ignore the pain as he sunk his knife into the closest part of the monster's body he could get to. Wesker hissed in pain as the silver blade dug into his forearm. The black tentacle began to rise from his arm once more but this time, it appeared a lot slower. Leon seized his opportunity and slashed at it, causing a spray of blood to fly across his face before he was thrown to the ground.

"The virus…you killed it" Wesker's words meant nothing to him. All he could see was Sherry falling, over and over again, hearing the brutal sound of her neck snapping. With a cry of rage he stumbled to his feet and lashed out again, catching the bastard across the face.

If this was going to work he was going to need something bigger, something more immediate. He remembered the axe as Wesker's well aimed kick caused him to crash to the floor once more.

There was a flash of green and a cry of 'Bastard!' as Chris suddenly leapt onto his former captain's back. His own combat knife, something more akin to a machete was in his right hand and slashing out at the tentacle just as Leon had done. Wesker snarled and flipped the older man off. Leon heard Chris' body connect with the tiled floor and he was sure that he'd heard the crack of a broken rib. But Chris was back on his feet, rushing Wesker again and this time managing to land a savage right hook that sent the former S.T.A.R.S captain reeling.

Leon used this opportunity to get back to his feet as Chris went in for another attack. The savage ballet continued with Chris throwing punches and Wesker throwing him to the ground, his senses and reactions now obviously delayed.

Leon's hiking trainers squeaked on the tiles as he ran for the axe. He deliberately kept his gaze facing the opposite way to Sherry's corpse. He couldn't think about her now or he might break down. There would be days, weeks, months in which to mourn her and celebrate her last act of bravery but for now he had to focus on ridding the world of the beast that was Albert Wesker and ensure her death, like all the ones before her, were not in vain.

He reached the glass cabinet and, grabbing the barrel of his magnum, he used the heavy grip to smash the glass. He quickly looked over his shoulder to see Chris landing another blow to Wesker's jaw before Wesker brutally backhanded him to the ground. A siren started wailing loudly, a sudden and loud clanging followed by a torrent of water. He'd obviously activated the fire alarm and sprinkler system when he'd smashed the glass. Another look over his shoulder and it appeared that neither Chris or Wesker had noticed. They were now locked into a tussle with Chris trying to take Wesker down and Wesker trying to haul the man off him, his shoulder tentacle leaking blood and flailing wildly. Leon wrenched the axe from its hangings, careful to avoid the jagged glass that still littered the frame and ran back to the fighting men.

Chris looked at him in confusion for a moment but quickly recovered as Wesker's tentacle tried to wrap around his neck. Water continued to pour from the ceiling sprinklers and was beginning to pool on the tiled floor. Leon took a big swing with the axe and felt resistance as it collided with the back of Wesker's knee. Wesker howled with pain and crumpled to the floor, the tentacle whipping around in a frenzy. Blood spurted from the wound, mixing instantly with the pools of water collecting on the floor. Chris was on Wesker, trying to pin the struggling man to the floor by his shoulders. He nodded at Leon who took another swing, this time bringing the heavy blade down right across the writhing man's eyes. The dark glasses crunched and shattered. A viscous clear liquid burst forth from his eyeballs, mixing with the blood that was running in rivulets down his face. He screamed in pain, his writhing growing more desperate. His tentacle flung Chris to the floor as his hands covered his obliterated face.

"Did you get his brain"? Chris asked, slipping slightly in the water as he hauled himself back to his feet.

"Don't think so…" Leon said breathlessly, staring down at the bleeding man. It was like being back in Raccoon. Just like the zombies here was something that had once been human but was now a soulless monster leftover from Umbrella. Had Wesker not put them through so much pain, he might've actually felt sorry for him.

He saw Chris gesticulating to him to back away. He retrieved his knife and did so, carefully and quietly. Now that Wesker was blind, he wouldn't be able to dodge what he couldn't see. The water from the sprinklers continued to pound down on the tiles, further masking their already carefully footsteps.

Wesker rolled over onto his front, his back now an undulating mass. His leather clad skin appeared to be bubbling and transforming. A large, red eye was starting to emerge from his back. He was obviously trying to compensate for his lack of vision. Leon moved quickly, aiming and then throwing his knife. It landed squarely in the middle of the developing eye, effectively blinding it.

Chris didn't waste a second, moving forward as quietly as he could and leaping onto Wesker's back. He withdrew the knife from the eyeball with a sickeningly wet sucking noise and slid it across the wet floor to Leon who caught it easily. Chris pinned Wesker to the tiles using his entire body weight. Wesker screamed and struggled, his blood-stained hands clawing at the tiled floor, splitting and breaking his nails. Leon went in with the axe, aiming at Wesker's left leg. He cut it off through the shin causing the former S.T.A.R.S captain to let out another gut-wrenching scream of pain. He managed to flip Chris from his back but couldn't see where the older man landed. Chris used this to his advantage, punching Wesker hard on the back of the head before pressing it into the tiled floor. The tentacle went for his neck once more. Leon swung and cut into it, feeling that same steely resistance as he tried to chop all the way through it. He pulled the axe back out, sending another spray of blood across the tiles. The tentacle whipped him across the face, causing him to reel back as he felt it cut into his cheek.

In what was no doubt retaliation for that, Chris ground Wesker's face into the tiles. Even though the water's cacophony continued relentlessly, Leon could hear Wesker's nose break. Ignoring the blood that was now running down his face, he wielded his weapon and brought it down on Wesker's right leg, chopping it neatly in the middle of the thigh.

"Quicker"! Chris ordered, struggling to hold Wesker down. It seemed the more of him they cut away, the stronger his desperate struggling became. Chris was bleeding and exhausted and, Leon feared, had broken ribs. He wouldn't be able to hold him down for much longer.

Even though his back and shoulder muscles screamed at him to stop, Leon continued to raise the axe, chopping at and removing Wesker's arms. Over and over again he swung the heavy weapon, occasionally missing due to Wesker's movements. As soon as the arms were dispatched, Leon started on his torso, hacking away as if he were trying to fell an old oak tree.

"Leon! His legs"! Chris called out over the din of the water. Leon quick-turned to look at the stumps that used to be Wesker's legs but slipped on the wet floor, crashing onto the tiles and landing heavily on his side. Even on the floor he could see that the stumps were growing worm-like thin tentacles and boned appendages.

"Shit" Leon cursed as he forced his body back to his feet. His arms felt like jelly as he raised the axe once again, aiming for these new additions. "You doing ok"? He called to Chris. The water had soaked his clothes completely, making them heavy and making it all the more harder to move. His hair flopped in his eyes and he had to keep shaking his head so that he could see.

"Yeah, yeah" Came Chris' frantic reply. "Keep going Leon, you're doing great"

Chris' words spurred him on. He kept chopping, thinking of Chris, thinking of Sherry, thinking of Jill and the poor villagers who'd suffered by Wesker's hand. He was doing this for them and he was doing this for himself too. Wesker had shot him, had tortured him, had implanted him with some fucked up virus, all for his own amusement. He'd ordered the sick bastard to go to his hospital room and photograph him when he was at his most vulnerable. He'd ordered those photos to be used in that corridor, that sick, twisted corridor that had upset Chris so much.

Chris. His lover. The man who'd been hounded by Wesker for years. Chop. Chop. Chop. Keep going. Keep swinging. Wesker had sent his team mates to die, kidnapped his sister, beat him to near death. He'd made him live through the recreation of his worst nightmare and Chris was bleeding right now because of him. Chop. Swing. Chop. Swing. His muscles were killing him. They were screaming and pleading. No. Don't give up now. Sherry. Oh god, Sherry. She was young, barely an adult and now she was dead. Had it hurt? She'd certainly been scared. They always said that when fell from a great height you were dead before you hit the ground. No. Can't think about that. Chop. Swing. Wipe the blood from your face. The water from your eyes. Swing. Chop. Shit. Can't lift the axe. Drop it to the floor. The knife. Stab. Stab. Harder. See Chris in that hallway, tearing down those photos. Stab. Slash. Stab. Feel yourself hit the floor, the bullet burning your stomach. Stab. Stab. Wipe the blood away.

"Leon"!

No. Can't stop now. Stab. He's got to die.

"Leon! Stop"!

The worry and desperation in Chris' voice brought Leon back to reality. In his hand, the blade of his knife was stained crimson, blood was splattered across his hand, halfway up his forearm. He looked down and saw the thing that used to be Albert Wesker, now nothing more than a bloodied head with a mangled stump for a torso. Chris is standing a short distance away watching him carefully.

"He's dead" Chris said gently. Leon nodded. It was worrying. He'd never lost control like that before. He continued to stare at Wesker's lifeless corpse. He heard footsteps in the water and Chris was suddenly by his side. The older man wiped the hair from his face and stroked his cheek, carefully to avoid the gash that was still bleeding. He whispered something that Leon didn't quite hear but thought was 'it's over now'.

Leon watched as Chris picked up the bloodied axe. He raised it high above his head, his face contorting in pain, confirming Leon's theory about the broken ribs, before bringing it down on Wesker's head, splitting it in two. The force of the swing sent the blood flying, hitting both of them, adding to the already numerous stains on their clothes and skin.

For the first time the water coming down from the ceiling felt like heavy rain. The sort of rain that cleared your head. Leon lifted his face to the water and felt it hit his skin, stinging his cut slightly but feeling refreshing at the same time. He felt as if he was waking up from some terrible nightmare.

When he looked down again, he saw Chris moving around the body, kicking all of the separate parts around the room with as much strength as he was able to muster. Leon guessed that he must've looked confused at this as Chris explained.

"I'm not having him join back together. Haven't you ever seen Terminator 2"?

Leon let out a laugh which quickly faded when he realised how inappropriate the noise sounded in the hollow emptiness of the hangar. The sprinklers suddenly stopped, almost as if they too realised the funereal atmosphere that had suddenly descended over the hangar and its occupants.

Leon was about to inspect Sherry's body when a loud metallic creaking noise came from overhead. He looked up to see the ceiling yawning open to reveal a bright flood of natural light. All around them, ropes dropped down and splashed the reddened water on the floor. A dozen men dressed in black tactical gear and armed with assault rifles descended into the hangar, shouting the word 'CLEAR!' to each other. Leon looked over at Chris who smiled back at him humourlessly. He knew what the older man was thinking. They were far too exhausted and too beaten to endure another fight.

"Chris! Leon"! A familiar voice joined the general chatter of the landing men. Leon instantly felt his worry ease slightly. He knew that voice! And sure enough, one of the 'men' had taken off their helmets and revealed herself to be Jill. "I brought some back-up" She said as she surveyed the mess of blood and gore that surrounded them.

"Better late than never I suppose" Chris replied tiredly. He gave her and exhausted smile and she game him a quick hug before turning to the assembled men and ordering them to start setting charges at various points around the room.

Two of the men were directing a pallet that was being lowered into the hangar. As it landed, Leon could see that it was filled with cases containing the charges and a black bag from which one of them men pulled out two thick, grey woollen blankets. Jill handed them to Leon and Chris. Leon wrapped the blanket around himself, suddenly realising just how cold he was. Chris wound his own blanket around himself and then held the edges of it open. Leon moved into Chris' open arms and the older man wrapped his blanket around them both. Careful to avoid Chris' broken ribs, Leon huddled up to him feeling a brief respite of relief that Chris had survived.

"Get on the pallet guys and they'll get you into one of the helicopters" Jill ordered. "You need to get checked out by the medic. We'll finish up here. I'll be making sure we destroy this entire facility"

"Sounds good to me" Chris replied, giving Leon a gentle kiss on the top of the head.

"Sherry"! Leon said suddenly, breaking away from Chris' embrace. "I…I don't want her leaving here. She needs to be taken back to America…given a proper burial"

"Don't worry about that" Jill placed a reassuring hand on Leon's shoulder. "We'll airlift her body out"

Leon nodded. He knew that it would in no way ease the pain of her brutal death but the least he could do was make sure she was given a funeral and laid to rest somewhere picturesque. He felt another hand on his shoulder, a stronger one, one that belonged to Chris. Wordlessly, the older man led him to the pallet and sat him down. Chris sat down beside him and Leon, still wary of Chris' injuries, wrapped an arm around his exhausted lover, holding on as tightly as he dared as the pallet rose upwards.

It was a good forty minutes later before Jill and the rest of the BSAA troops joined them back in the helicopter. Chris knew because he'd counted every damn minute. He and Leon had been checked over by the on board medic and 'patched up' in the young medic's own words. Leon's open wounds were cleaned and a large gauze pad was taped to his face, covered the gash made by Wesker's tentacle. Chris' cuts had been cleaned too and his ribs had been strapped up. They'd both been helped out of their wet, filthy clothes and had been equipped with a rather uncomfortable grey jumpsuit which, they were told, would do until they got back to the BSAA headquarters in America. Leon, of course, was going to have to answer to his superiors in the Secret Service and judging by the expression on the younger man's face, the last thing he wanted to do was explain and relive everything they'd been through since first arriving in Africa.

Chris couldn't blame him. Wrapped once more in the itchy grey blanket, he leant against the younger man if only to reassure himself that Leon was still alive and well. It was a bitter sweet moment to be leaving. Wesker was dead and gone and everything that his life had been working towards for the past few years was done with. He was effectively free to start a new life without being haunted by the threat of his former captain. But at the same time Chris knew that he and Leon both had wounds that weren't so easy to patch up. Sherry's death was obviously one of those wounds. He barely knew the girl but it was still a tragic way for anyone to lose their life, especially someone so young. He looked up at Leon who was staring blankly out of the window of the helicopter. Chris wanted to do something, say anything to ease his lover's pain but he knew that there was nothing he could. Leon would heal in time, they both would, but Sherry's death would be constant in Leon's memory.

"Chris"? Jill sat down next to him. Since the troops had piled back into the helicopter, the space had decreased a lot, so much so they everyone was sitting pretty much shoulder to shoulder. Jill handed something to him, something small. He looked down at his hand. It was a radio controlled detonator. "You deserve to finish this" She said.

Chris didn't hesitate. He pushed the button on the detonator and heard the explosion that followed. He carefully leant over Leon to see the low buildings of the facility engulfed in a massive orange fireball. Blackened debris blossomed in the sky before raining down over the acres of clean white snow. He dropped the detonator and, rather awkwardly because of the limited space, put his arm around Leon. He didn't need to say anything and neither did Leon. Both knew what the other was thinking. The time for talking about the horrors of their ordeal would come within time but for now the best thing they could do was hold on to each other and be grateful that they'd gotten out of it alive.

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One year later…

The tiny fairy lights wrapped around the wooden railing of the veranda glowed in the moonlight. It was a beautiful evening, calm and peaceful. It was just the right sort of warm and the air was still and quiet. Beyond the veranda was the sandy beach, silent and devoid of its usual cluster of tourists. The midnight blue water was gently ebbing and flowing with an almost perfect rhythm and the sky above was clear and dotted with bright, glowing stars. Leon leant back in the comfortable, cushioned deck chair and smiled. He swirled the brandy around in his glass and took another bite from the Tapas platter in front of him. This truly was the life.

"BURP"!

"Leave it to you to completely slaughter the romance" Leon moaned as Chris threw himself into the opposite deck chair with a satisfied grin. He reached forward and grabbed a handful of Parma ham, cramming it into his mouth and taking a big swill of his beer to wash it down.

"Can't help it" He said with his mouth full. "It's that chorito thingy. Always does it to me"

"The word you're looking for is chorizo" Leon said with a roll of his eyes. Although in the last couple of years his life had changed considerably, one thing remained constant. Chris Redfield was, and always would be, a pig.

"It was nice of Dennis to lend us this place." Chris continued, grabbing some olives and cheese. "Might've gotten us some decent snacks though." He added after a moment's thought.

"I'm surprised he let you" Leon took another sip of his brandy. Dennis had left a bottle of it in the kitchen of his beautiful holiday home and if there was one thing Dennis knew about, it was good brandy.

"He was all about it when I told him why" Chris replied with a smug grin. "Like I said, we both deserve a holiday"

Leon couldn't argue with that. They'd taken a short break after the events of Antarctica but it had been far from restful. He'd given a long and detailed report of everything that had happened and his superiors had insisted that he find himself a therapist before he returned to active duty. It was hard to relax and appreciate the rest when you were forced to pour your innermost out to a stranger twice a week. Chris had been the same, providing reports for the BSAA and organising the clean-up mission to get rid of the twisted mess that used to be the Antarctic facility. Barry Burton had expressed some concerns about Chris needing to see someone but Chris had been resolute that he could deal with it himself. Then, of course, there'd been Sherry's funeral to organise. Chris had been amazing, listening to every one of Leon's wishes and trying his best to help him get it all sorted out.

After a long discussion, Leon had chosen to bury her in Washington, the city where they'd spent those precious few months together. He'd found a quiet cemetery and had her buried in a corner plot close to a large weeping willow tree. He'd used some of his savings to buy her a simple yet elegant headstone made from white marble and he'd made sure to visit regularly, to tidy up any overgrown grass and weeds and to leave her a bunch of her favourite flowers. At his insistence she'd been buried with her gold locket and her copy of the photo of the two of them outside the mini golf centre. Chris always visited the grave with him, helping him to keep it tidy and holding his hand as he swallowed the lump that always seemed to gather in his throat.

Leon shook his head and came out of his reverie. This was their first proper holiday with no therapists, superiors to report to or anything work related. He was damn well going to enjoy it. He looked over at his partner to suggest they go for a midnight swim but found the words wouldn't come out. Chris had moved aside his deck chair and was now down on one knee. In his hands was a tiny red velvet box, open to reveal a simple silver band. The smug, oafish expression on the older man's face was gone and had been replaced with one of seriousness. Leon heard himself gasp as Chris spoke.

"Leon Scott Kennedy, will you marry me"?

THE END


	7. Chapter 7

Notes: So here we are onto the re-write of Endgame! Unlike the previous two facility stories, this is going to be the one with the most changes. I really struggled writing this originally and since it took so long, I started to lose heart with it. I was unhappy with the way I portrayed Leon and his PTSD as well as Kevin, Jill and Carlos' storylines which I think lacked depth. I also felt like while the character of Ginny was interesting, I handled it poorly. I don't want to spoil things but there's some pretty big changes coming up! One of which I'm going to continue dealing with in the fourth facility story which will be coming soon.

The Facility Revisited – Endgame

Leon Kennedy smiled serenely as he leant against the smooth white wall that overlooked the tranquil bay. The water was a breath-taking clear blue with sunlight sprinkled across its surface like silver glitter. It was calm and unmoving, completely untouched by the tourists that flocked to the country on a daily basis. A small strip of sand nudged up to the water's edge creating a small beach that hadn't been despoiled by rows of sun bathers or childish sand castles. He was looking forward to walking along it later.

The wall he was leaning against was built into a large hill that presided over the idyllic bay. It was covered in slightly yellowed patchy grass, dotted with the odd bushy green tree. It was an area that had been completely untouched by the tourist trade. There were no shopping or recreation areas nearby so tourists would have little reason to visit. It was one of the few well-kept Spanish secrets, making it perfect for him. Atop the hill sat a small, traditional style chapel with clean white walls and a terracotta roof. A couple of flights of stone stairs lead down to the wall where he was standing. Leon turned around to observe the building. It had a large, dark oak door and, above that, a big brown circle of marble built into the wall. The small bell towers with its golden bell was the only giveaway to it being a place of religion. Like its surroundings, it was perfect.

Leon walked up the stairs, holding onto the black handrail and took a deep breath before pushing open the heavy oak door. He entered a small porch area; painted white with a stone tiled floor, and grinned at the man he found waiting for him.

"Thanks for organising this Dennis. It's beautiful" He said, shaking Dennis' hand. The older man smiled back at him as he adjusted the lapel of his immaculate charcoal grey suit.

"Not a problem at all" He replied. "I'm just glad that I could be of service on a day that I never thought I would see happen"

Leon nodded. He was equally as surprised as Dennis at how his life had panned out. No longer the lone wolf who rejected attachments and human contact, Leon was now preparing to marry the man that he knew he was going to spend the rest of his life with. If someone had told him two years ago that this was how his life would turn out he would've probably laughed in their face and severely questioned their sanity.

"I'm happy for you Leon" Dennis continued, giving Leon's shoulder a squeeze.

"Hey, cut the mushy shit guys"! A voice from the other side of the porch suddenly rang out. "It's almost like we're at a wedding or something"! Chris teased as he appeared from the other side of a small oak door and grinned at Dennis and Leon. Leon sighed fondly. Leave it to Chris to swear in a church. Despite that minor annoyance, he couldn't help but notice how good Chris' dark navy blue suit made him look. It was cut perfectly, showing off his impressive body and it had been paired with an expensive looking grey shirt. No doubt the shirt was down to Maria's guidance. She was Dennis' wife and she'd agreed to help Chris find something suitable to wear for the big day. Looking at him now, Leon could see that she'd done a good job. A very good job. There was just one thing missing.

"Where's your tie"? He asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Ugh" Chris pulled a face. "Do I have to wear one"? He whined.

"It's our wedding day" Leon protested. He was dressed in the same dark navy suit as Chris but had paired it with a wine red shirt and a thin navy tie. His black dress shoes had been polished and it hair was glossy and perfectly styled.

"Exactly" Chris said, running a hand through his messily spiked hair. "I'm not so hot on spending the happiest day of my life feeling like I'm stuck in the gallows" As if to further emphasise his point, he undid the top button of his shirt. Leon supposed that he couldn't really argue with that logic. He wasn't totally comfortable either but he'd had a lot more practice at wearing a suit and tie than Chris who was a dedicated jeans and t-shirt wearer. The humid weather wasn't exactly helping the situation either. So, as a show of solidarity towards his husband to be, Leon slipped off his tie and folded it carefully before placing it in his pocket. He undid his top button and opened his collar out a little. He had to admit that it did feel a lot better.

"Are you guys ready"? Maria appeared from the small door, looking resplendent in an expensive pink silk dress that complimented Dennis' charcoal grey perfectly. Her thick black hair was a soft halo of curls and she was proudly wearing the platinum heart shaped necklace that Leon had helped Dennis find for their last wedding anniversary. "The minister is ready for you" She continued in her delicate Spanish accent.

Chris nodded and planted a sloppy kiss on Leon's forehead. Leon smiled happily but couldn't help feeling a pang as his thoughts turned to the one person who was missing from their wedding party. Two years had passed since Sherry's death at the hands of Wesker but she was still very much a fixture in his head. He would've loved to have had her in the church right now, sharing his special day. He tried his hardest to push those feelings back down, at least for the mean time. He was concentrating on the fact that he was about to marry the man that he loved with someone who he considered to be his closest friend at his side.

Dennis and Maria were the only members of the small but select wedding party. They hadn't intended to get married in Spain at all but as it was the country where they'd first met, it seemed appropriate and romantic enough without being horrifically sappy. Their original plan was to marry in America with their friends and family present. But, when Leon had agreed to marry Chris, he hadn't banked on the input of the two most fearsome women he'd ever met. Jill and Claire. As soon as they found out about the proposal, they'd become an unstoppable force to be reckoned with. They'd descended on Chris and Leon's shared apartment with an array of wedding magazines and had proceeded to talk in increasingly excited and hyper tones about cakes, flowers, photographers and even wedding china. He and Chris had agreed early on that all they wanted was a nice, simple wedding, not some over the top flashy fairy tale event. That sort of thing just wasn't their style.

They'd tried countless times to explain this to the girls but they wouldn't be dettered. They were relentless in their plans for the wedding to end all weddings. Eventually, after listening to Jill talk for two solid hours about heart shaped vol-au-vents, they put a stop to the whole thing. Leon came up with the idea to elope. They'd decided not to tell anyone where they were going, have a little holiday, and return as a married couple. They knew that Jill, and particularly Claire, would be unhappy about it but they'd though, what the hell, they'd be forgiven eventually.

And it was the eloping idea that had led them to Spain. Leon had called Dennis and he'd been nothing short of miraculous, helping them to find and book the church and allowing them use of his holiday home for the duration of their stay. Maria had also been invaluable to them, finding a nice minister and helping Chris put together his wedding outfit. They were, at last, going to have the wedding they wanted. Small, intimate and quiet. Leon couldn't wait.

A loud insistent trilling suddenly filled the small porch. All eyes turned to Chris who seemed to be the source of the noise. The older man quickly rummaged around in his trouser pocket and pulled out his PDA. He pressed a button and held it to his ear.

"Hello"?

"You answered it"?! Leon hissed incredulously.

"It's the BSAA emergency number" Chris mouthed back at him. Leon let out a growl of frustration. He was about to snatch the infernal thing from his lover's hand when the ringing noise sounded again. This time from his own pocket. It was his own PDA. He pulled it out, ignoring Chris' smug smirk, and checked the screen. Another one of the BSAA's emergency numbers. If they were both being called then it was bound to be something serious. Dennis and Maria watched, baffled, as he answered the call.

Shortly after the events of Africa and Antarctica, Leon had been officially released from his position as a Government agent. They'd been in contact with his mandatory therapist and had expressed strong concerns about his mental state following Sherry's brutal murder. Wanting to leave his post anyway, Leon hadn't argued when his superiors had called him in for a meeting and told him in no uncertain terms that they thought he was no longer up to the job. He'd been released just like that with nothing more than a pat on the back and a thank you for his years of service and hard work. His freedom from the government however, had given him the opportunity to do what he'd decided to do shortly after defeating Wesker. Join the BSAA. The more he'd found out about the sort of work they did, the more it seemed like an attractive career choice. There were nowhere near as many rules and regulations as the Secret Service and he was working with a great bunch of people who'd he gotten to know well since becoming a permanent part of Chris' life. For the past year he'd mainly been doing admin work based in an office which Barry Burton had insisted he do until he completed his therapy. Leon didn't mind one bit. It meant that he finished at the same time every day and could spent more time with Chris who was currently taking an extended break.

The call to his PDA consisted of a voicemail from Barry. Apparently, he was holding an emergency meeting at his cabin in Canada. His grave voice explained that something major had happened and they needed to get to Canada as soon as possible. The message abruptly ended and Leon hung up with a heavy heart. Judging by the expression on Chris' face, the older man felt exactly the same as he did.

"So much for getting married huh"? Chris said disappointedly. Leon nodded. There was no way they'd be able to get married knowing that their friends and colleagues needed them. Barry wasn't the sort of person who liked to create a storm in a teacup. When he called you into action you knew that it was because of something big.

"What's going on"? Maria asked with a frown. "The minister is waiting"

"We're going to have rearrange" Leon said sadly. "Work commitments" He added, trying hard not to sound as bitter as he felt about it.

"Not a problem" Dennis replied, giving Leon a sympathetic pat on the back. "I understand" He gave him an encouraging nod. "We can always sort it out later"

"Thanks Dennis" Leon replied gratefully. He knew that Dennis would understand. He, like Leon, was dedicated to his cause and believed that, as hard as it was, sometimes your personal life had to take a backseat to your work. Maria nodded too, obviously still a bit perplexed but she disappeared back into the church nonetheless, obviously to explain the situation to the minister. Leon hadn't even noticed that Chris had left the porch until the older man came back. He was now clutching a pair of bright red skater trainers. The same trainers, Leon remembered, that Chris had been wearing when they'd first met. A grin was spreading across his face.

"What the-" Leon started to say before he pretty much received his explanation. Chris quickly removed his black dress shoes and slipped on the skater trainers. He held the dress shoes aloft, pulling a face as if the shoes had mortally offended him somehow.

"Thank fuck for that"! He said triumphantly, miming relaxation as he jiggled about in his new footwear.

"You brought your trainers to the church"?

"Course I did" Chris shrugged. "Hid them under the first pew" He'd obviously noticed the reproachful look that he was getting as he said petulantly. "The shoes were too tight! Anyway, there's a romantic reason. These were the trainers I was wearing when I met you"!

"And they smell like it too" Leon complained. "I can't believe that our wedding has just been cancelled and all you can think about is what's on your feet"!

"No"! Chris' reply was shrill and defensive. "Of course I'm bothered that we're not getting married. But I know that someday soon we will and that's enough for me" He pulled Leon close and kissed him deeply. "Love you Agent Honeybunch"

"What did I tell you about using that name"? Leon moaned, breaking their embrace, "I'm not even a secret agent anymore so that name doesn't work" He narrowed his eyes. "Oaf"

"Yeah but you're a BSAA agent now, so it does" Chris replied cheekily as he winked at Leon. "Although, you're not a Captain like I am" He added smugly, puffing his chest out. Leon rolled his eyes. Upon their return from Antarctica, Chris had been promoted to Captain. It was a position he totally deserved and he'd certainly worked hard enough for it but it didn't mean it had any humility about it. He liked to remind people about as much as he possibly could. As far as he was concerned, he wasn't a captain, he was The Captain, capital T, capital C. He grinned at Dennis and handed him the black dress shoes. "As a thank you for everything you've done" He said by way of explanation.

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Chris couldn't help but feel disappointed that he was returning to America minus a husband. As they boarded the plane that would take them to Canada, then got into the rental Jeep that would take them up to Barry's cabin, Chris realised just how badly he wanted to be married. He'd never seen himself as the marrying type but Leon had changed all that. After seeing how well he'd handled himself in Antarctica, Chris had realised that he wanted to propose and become his husband.

Chris shuddered at the memories that thinking about Antarctica brought up. Unlike Leon, he hadn't opted to see a therapist. He'd been passed about between therapist like a demented parcel shortly after his parents had died and he was determined not to repeat that experience again. Instead, he'd chosen to talk about his fears and worries with Leon. It had worked to cement their already solid relationship. Never before had Chris felt like he could be so open and honest with another person and have someone be open and honest in return. He looked over at Leon who was now leaning back in the Jeep's passenger seat, fast asleep. Chris didn't blame him. They'd been travelling for hours and darkness had already fallen. It had taken god knows how many months for Leon to be able to sleep soundly and not be disturbed by graphic nightmares of Sherry's fatal fall.

As he drove through the endless rows of huge pine trees, Chris couldn't help but wonder why Barry had called the meeting. Barry didn't make a fuss over nothing. He was the most experienced out of everyone that Chris knew and his voice in the voicemail had sounded scarily urgent. What made the situation especially worse was that Barry had arranged for the meeting to be at his own cabin which meant that it was likely to be considered a high security mission. Barry had moved to Canada after the events of the Spencer Mansion in order to keep his family safe. As well as buying a large family home, he'd also purchased a log cabin up in the mountains. If you asked his wife, Kathy, about it then she would say it was where he went for fishing trips. Ask anyone who really knew and they would tell you that it was an important base of operations for the BSAA.

For a fleeting second, the knot of worry in Chris' stomach tightened. His first instinct upon hearing on Barry's voicemail was that it had something to do with Wesker again. It was only afterwards, on their flight, that he realised how ridiculous he was being. Wesker was dead. He'd been there when Leon had killed him. His body had been chopped into pieces with an axe that had been salvaged from a fire cabinet. Whatever it was that Wesker had infected himself with, or how strong and inhuman it had made him, there was no coming back from that sort of death. Especially since a clean-up crew had blown the facility sky high afterwards. As the Jeep rolled into Barry's driveway, Chris felt the knot loosened slightly. Wesker was dead. It felt good to know. After years and years of chasing him, they'd finally ended things and he was no longer a threat. Whatever the news was that Barry had to impart, Chris knew he could deal with it.

Opening the door to Barry's log cabin was like opening the door to another world. A peaceful, cosy, long ago world that modern busy city life seemed to have long forgotten. In the centre of the back wall, a large fire crackled away in the massive fireplace, its embers occasionally escaping the black grating and landing on the thick maroon rug in front of it. The solid oak mantelpiece had some of Barry's personal belongings on top. Silver framed family photos of his wife and daughters and one of the old S.T.A.R.S team. The grey stone chimney breast reached all the way up to the ceiling, nestling between two heavy wooden beams.

Arranged around the fireplace and against one of the other dark brown walls, was a pair of old maroon armchairs and a sofa made from cord material. The fabric was bald and faded in patches and it was obvious that the set had, at one point, taken pride of place in the lounge of Barry's house before migrating up to the cabin once replaced by his wife. Against the other wall was a set of stairs that led to the second floor, more family photos lined up on the wall, this time of his daughter's respective graduation ceremonies. In the centre of the room was a large oak coffee table, which, at this present moment in time, held cups of coffee and a few gun magazines, lazily spread out over the surface. After a few hours of travelling on planes and then the jeep, the cabin was a welcoming sight.

Before Chris could do or say anything, a warm pair of arms descended upon him. Dressed in a soft green jumper and dark blue jeans, Claire pulled him into a hug. She gave him a kiss on his stubbled cheek before releasing him and doing the same thing to Leon who hugged her back just as hard.

"Chris! Leon"! She exclaimed happily.

"Hey Sis" Chris grinned widely as his baby sister. "You're fatter than ever"! He exclaimed, motioning to her heavily pregnant stomach. She frowned at him and stroked her bump defensively.

"Well thanks for that" A familiar, sardonic, voice piped up. Claire's husband, Kevin Ryman, was sitting in one of the armchairs, rolling his eyes expressively yet smiling all the time. "I've only spent the last seven months convincing her that what's happening to her body is natural and beautiful but please, feel free to fuck that up in four words" He said with an idle wave of his hand.

Chris gave Claire a quick, apologetic kiss before he shrugged easily and gave Kevin a playful hit on the shoulder. Kevin was tall and well built and while he was nowhere near as large and muscular as Chris, he could still hold his own in a fight. He had dark, chocolate brown hair that, according to him, had once been longer that Leon's. It was now a lot more respectable, arranged in short spikes. There was a smattering of stubble across his jaw and around his mouth.

"Still working the designer stubble look are we Ryman"? Chris teased as he threw himself into the other arm chair.

"Well someone's gotta show you how it's done Redfield" Kevin replied smugly. He nodded at Leon who took a seat next to Claire. "Alright Kennedy"?

"How about you give it a rest with the surnames"? Chris fired back. "My first name is Chris" He continued as if he was talking to a small child. "And the guy sitting over there with the truly divine can? His name is Leon" He continued haughtily. "You don't see me calling you Ryman all the time now do you"?

"You just did" Kevin pointed out. Chris momentarily seemed wrong footed but quickly recovered himself.

"Whatever you say Kevo" He said with another casual shrug. Claire caught Leon's eye and gave him a withering look that said 'They're-at-it-again'. An outsider wouldn't have guessed that the two guys actually liked each other and that Chris had been Kevin's best man when he'd married Claire.

"So what is it with you Redfield"? Kevin asked, taking great care to enunciate Chris' surname with expression. "You always seem to be able to instantly figure out what annoys someone and you stick to it like glue. It's like you've got some innate ability to do it"

"What can I say"? Chris shrugged and put his feet up, still clad in the bright red skater trainers, on the large coffee table. "So where's Big Fat Barry"? He asked, looking around for any sign of his former S.T.A.R.S colleague.

"He's on the phone to his wife" Claire answered, still stroking her stomach. "Kathy thinks that he's come up her on another one of his fishing trips"

"I'd love to hear you call him Big Fat Barry to his face" Kevin smirked at Chris. "He'd snap you like a twig and man, what I'd give to have a front row ticket to that show"! He snorted. "So anyway, Kennedy, since you're the one in the relationship who actually knows how to behave in social situations, you got any idea why we've all been called here"?

"Nothing more than the voicemail gave away" Leon replied. He liked Kevin a lot and although he hadn't gotten to know him very well, he knew he was a good guy to have around in a crisis. Another survivor of the Racoon City Incident, Kevin was actually supposed to have worked with him as part of the new Special Police Force that Chief Irons had set up to replace the disbanded S.T.A.R.S. After escaping the city, Kevin had spent some time working in Miami as a cop. He'd met Claire there totally by chance when she'd been doing field work for Terrasave . They'd dated for a while before finally marrying a year ago.

"Chris, Leon, you made it" Barry appeared in the log archway that led to the cabin's small yet comfortable kitchen area. He was wearing his usual casual gear, a red checked shirt tucked into blue jeans with a black leather belt. A green trucker cap was placed on top of his head. According to Chris, Barry hadn't changed much since his S.T.A.R.S years. He was heavier and a little more lined and had grey hair dusting his beard and jowls but he still cut a pretty impressive figure, easily towering over most people in the room. "We're just waiting on Jill and Carlos and then I can start explaining why you're all here"

"Since we've got to hang around a bit longer…" Kevin smiled evilly. "Redfield's got a new nickname for you. Isn't that right"? He added teasingly. He grinned at Chris who suddenly began to look uncharacteristically uncomfortable. There was only one person in the entire world who could put the fear of god into Chris and that was Barry Burton.

"Really"? Barry asked with a raised eyebrow. He folded his arms across his broad chest and stared at Chris expectantly. "What nickname would that be"? He asked. His tone wasn't one of interest but more of a resigned sort of attitude that Leon supposed had come from dealing with Chris for years.

"Bad Ass Barry" Chris said it smoothly enough but he still looked a little nervous. "The, uh, baddest man in the whole damn town" He added after a moment of frantic deliberation. "It's not very respectful of the man to call him fat now is it Kevo"? He paused for a moment as if he was truly relishing getting his revenge. "Shame on you for being so unprofessional" He shook his head in disgust.

Barry sighed heavily and muttered something under his breath but didn't press the issue. It was obvious that he was used to Chris and had gone far beyond feeling the need to correct or rebuke him in anyway. Instead he disappeared back into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a bottle of brandy and a few glasses as well as some juice for Claire. He laid it out neatly on the coffee table before taking his place at the fireplace, leaning against the mantelpiece.

"So, what were you two up to"? Claire asked Leon, taking a proffered glass of juice from Kevin. "I heard Barry say you were in Spain"

"Holiday" Leon answered at the same time Chris said 'business'. They looked at each other sheepishly. They hadn't discussed what they were going to tell people. Obviously they'd changed out of their wedding suits and into regular hoodies and jeans but they'd both figured the question wouldn't come up. However, when it came to Claire, they should've really known better. "A business holiday" Leon quickly amended. He suddenly showed interest in the photographs on the mantelpiece so that he wouldn't have to look Claire in the eye.

Luckily, a distraction came in the form of the cabin's front door suddenly opening. A very cold looking Jill Valentine entered the room, dressed in black jeans and a tight red parka. A matching red woollen hat was crammed over her head. Her nose and cheeks were bright red with cold. As she was closing the front door, Carlos came in behind her, having to quickly put his hand on the wood to avoid it hitting him in the face. He looked equally as cold in his light jeans and black leather jacket, an olive green scarf tied tightly around his neck. His brown floppy hair was dotted with snowflakes.

Leon couldn't put his finger on it but the mood definitely changed following their arrival. Normally a very happy, easy going couple , the pair seemed to be acting very differently. The others in the room had obviously picked up on this different because they were shifting uncomfortably in their chairs due to the sudden sullen silence that had fallen. Thankfully, Carlos broke it first.

"Hi everyone" He greeted with a definite hint of forced cheerfulness. He looked over at Claire and smiled genuinely. "Hola Claire" He added a little sleazily. Claire simply rolled her eyes and ignored it but Kevin shot him a death glare.

"You make eyes at my wife Oliveira and it'll be the last thing you do" Kevin snapped with only the slightest hint of good nature behind it.

"Fear not Compadre" Carlos replied, holding his hands up defensively. "Why do I need to spend my time looking at other ladies when I have the lovely Jill at my side"? He turned around and smiled broadly at Jill, thus acknowledging her for the first time since their arrival. She shook her head dismissively and pushed past him, taking a seat on the sofa next to Claire.

"Give it up" She said with a tired sigh.

Oblivious to the obvious awkward atmosphere between Jill and Carlos, Barry drained the contents of his glass before standing up and making his way over to the fireplace. The already silent room turned to face him as he began to speak.

"I won't beat about the bush. For a while now, a small contingent of our British BSAA members have been watching a spot on the North Sea on the edge of the Arctic Circle. There's been a lot of regular activity in the last year, helicopters, Container ships, that sort of thing" He announced. Out of the corner of his eye, Leon saw Carlos' attempt to get Jill's attention only to be studiously ignored by her. They'd obviously had some kind of argument. Claire was cuddled up to Kevin and Chris was, for once, listening intently to what Barry was saying. "Now, none of these checked out with any oil, shipping or tourist companies operating in the area but our agents did find out that all the activity seemed to centre around an oil rig which, according to records, has been unmanned and out of action for years" Barry continued to explain, his expression grave. "In the last couple or months, activity surrounding the rig has completely stopped dead. The agents were able to use sonar imaging and they found a huge multi-levelled structure below the oilrig. Now" Barry paused to observe the room. "I know what you're thinking. These sorts of things were built by the United States in the eighties to attack the USSR by launching nukes from under the sea-"

"To be fair Barry" Chris cut in. "I don't think any of us were thinking that" He looked around for confirmation of his point but everyone, Leon included, were too busy focussing on Barry.

"Learn your history" Barry snapped back, effectively shutting Chris up. "But the fact that there was activity up until very recently makes that explanation extremely unlikely"

"So it's another facility"? Leon asked darkly. "Another one of Umbrella's leftovers"? As he said the words, he felt a familiar sickness return to his stomach. His and Chris' naivety over the past year had been nothing short of idiotic. They were so concerned with relief and celebrating Wesker's death at their own hands, they'd missed the bigger picture. Just because Albert Wesker was dead didn't mean the remnants of Umbrella were.

"So what if it's another facility"? Carlos said with a careless shrug. "Wesker's dead. Why bother ourselves with it? It's probably abandoned because he's not around to give his orders or whatever"

Chris snorted.

"Wesker wasn't the only problem Oliveira" He replied as if Carlos was being deliberately stupid. There was something about the older man's tone that made Leon think he was rather relishing putting Carlos right. Chris and Carlos weren't enemies as such, but they weren't exactly friends either. "You of all people should know that" He added. Carlos merely rolled his eyes at this point. Part of the reason that Chris felt some enmity towards him was because Carlos used to be under the employ of Umbrella as part of the U.B.C.S.

"He's right Carlos" Claire said. "Even if I don't agree with how he delivered his point" She gave her brother a dirty look, which he merely shrugged off. "Wesker may be dead but there's going to be some die-hard Umbrella fanatics that continue his work"

"Which is why it needs investigating" Barry said loudly, taking control back as everyone starting chattering away at once, throwing in their points of view. "And that is why I asked you be here. You've all got experience of dealing with Umbrella, which far outweighs that of the British BSAA agents. It's a big location so you're going to need to scout for activity to find out exactly what's going on down there. If it's all clear then you can call in backup and have it destroyed like the Antarctic facility"

"Then why not just destroy it right away"? Carlos asked.

"Well I'd say that's pretty obvious," Chris said haughtily. He opened his mouth to speak but obviously realised that he didn't actually have an answer as he looked at Leon helplessly.

"We don't know who's down there," Barry explained. "The BSAA don't want to harm any innocent people that might've been taken down there against their will"

"Exactly what I was going to say Barry"! Chris exclaimed. He smiled smarmily at Carlos who narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything in return.

"Shut up Chris" Barry said idly as you would do to a persistently naughty child. "Now if everything goes to plan you should be in and out in one night to avoid any unwanted intervention from outsiders. The upside to this whole situation is that we have reason to strongly believe that this is the last of Umbrella's facilities"

"Do the BSAA have permission to carry out demolition in British waters"? Jill asked.

"Good point" Carlos nodded emphatically, obviously hoping to get back into Jill's good books. He reached out to take hold of her hand but she moved it away quickly. Carlos sighed audibly.

"Our British agents will liase with local militaries through our links with the UN to gain permission but as far as I've been told, it's a done deal" Barry answered. He turned his attentions to Leon and Chris. "I know the two of you haven't been on active duty of late but I was hoping you would agree to do this"

"Of course we will" Chris replied confidently with a nod. Leon felt himself nodding along too but he couldn't be as certain and as adamant as his partner. He wanted to bring Umbrella down just as much as the others did but whenever he'd thought about active duty, Sherry's death and the horrible beating Chris had received played in his head like a relentless march. After years of dodging the diagnosis, it was finally on his medical records that he was suffering from PTSD. His therapist had been very reassuring and had helped him achieve a level of functionality after the dark days following Antarctica but he knew that he was far from recovered.

He noticed Barry watching him, looking somewhat doubtful. Leon pushed aside whatever doubts he was feeling and tried to match Chris' confident face. If Barry thought for a second that he wasn't up for the task then he would be forced to stay in America whilst Chris went and that, Leon decided, was a million times worse than whatever Umbrella had left to throw at them.

"Wait a second" Kevin's voice interrupted his thoughts. "There's no way in hell Claire's going"

"I can speak for myself," Claire argued, a frown crossing her delicate features. Leon didn't really know all that much about Chris' sister but he did know that she could be very forceful and kick some ass when she really needed to.

"No arguments honey. You're not going" Kevin's voice had a tone of finality to it. "There is no way I'm going to let you risk our baby or yourself for that matter"

"Well I can't just sit around here waiting for you"! Claire shot back, her eyes filling with tears. She wiped them away fiercely with the sleeve of her jumper.

"You'll be here with me." Barry said simply, causing the rest of the group to look back towards the former S.T.A.R.S member. He'd obviously seen Chris' disappointment and Jill's surprise as he explained. "I'm getting too old to go running around Umbrella's facilities. But don't worry, I have this"! He suddenly brandished a sleek looking black PDA. "I'll be maintaining contact with you throughout your mission. Claire, you can help me. Your contacts in Terrasave may be of use"

Claire nodded, seemingly a lot calmer now. As the others descended into a flurry of chatter about equipment and weaponry, Leon watched as Chris got up from his seat and pulled his sister into a tight hug. She seemed to be getting upset again but as they spoke for a couple of minutes in hushed tones, a smile slowly spread across her face. Leon couldn't help but smile with her. Although he might often play the goon and be frequently annoying, Chris always knew the right thing to say.

The tender moment between the siblings now obviously over, Leon stood up and joined them by the fireplace. Chris had his hands on Claire's stomach and pulled a face as he felt the baby kick.

"That's so gross" He remarked as he pulled his hand away. Leon walked up behind him and wrapped his arms around his lover's waist. "I can't believe the baby's gonna be a Ryman" He added mournfully as he leant into Leon's embrace.

"Aw Bro, you know he's always going to be a Redfield at heart" Claire replied with a happy smile.

"It's a boy"? Leon said, giving the back of Chris' neck a quick kiss. "Have you thought of any names"?

"I hate to interrupt but you two have a plane to catch" Barry interjected, placing a hand on Leon's shoulder. "You going to be alright Kid"? He asked it quietly enough, presumably so that Leon could choose to ignore it if he really wanted. Chris, in a rare show of tact, freed himself from Leon's arms and started saying his goodbyes to Claire.

"Fine" Leon replied with a nod, slightly resenting the 'kid' remark. If he didn't respect Barry so much, he might've been tempted to show him how proficient he was with a knife.

"I know we planned on waiting another six months before returning you to active duty but with your Secret Service background, you're indispensable"

Leon nodded again and went to join Chris in saying his goodbyes to Claire. He wasn't entirely ready to face whatever was down there but if Barry was right and this really was Umbrella's last major facility then it would allow him to close the book of what had been a traumatic and eventful period of his life.

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Barry had arranged for the group to meet a pilot in Scotland. This pilot would then take them to the oilrig via helicopter. They caught a domestic flight early the next morning after saying goodbyes to both Barry and Claire who promised they would be in touch. The flight was long and uneventful and they were all glad to get to their hotel rooms to get a good night's sleep before heading out to meet the pilot the following morning.

Barry had booked three rooms for them and, after a quick hot meal; they retired to their respective rooms for the night. Jill and Carlos took one room, Leon and Chris the other and Kevin the final room.

Chris threw himself onto the hard hotel bed and let out a contented sigh. Even though the mattress was stupidly saggy, it was still a lot more comfortable than a hard plane seat. He was trying not to think too much about what they were going to face tomorrow and was instead concentrating on happier things, like destroying the final Umbrella facility, Claire and the baby and, of course, Leon.

"Do you always have to watch me get undressed"? The younger man asked as he stripped down to his boxers. He flung his jeans and t-shirt over the back of a nearby chair before joining Chris on the bed.

"Obviously" Chris replied. "You're pretty hot. Not as hot as me but pretty damn close" He pulled Leon in for a kiss, simultaneously running his hand along the younger man's thigh as he did so. He smiled through the kiss when the felt the goose bumps rise on his partner's sensitive skin. Chris loved how pale and smooth the younger man's skin felt. His left hand continued to trace tiny circles on the inner thigh, his right ghosting over Leon's flat stomach, calloused fingertips rubbing over the shiny pink scar before moving upwards to the whiter scar tissue from the wound he'd received in Raccoon. He knew Leon's skin and body as well as he knew his own.

"Well that's nice to know" Leon said, his hand tightening in the back of Chris' hair and tugging lightly. His other hand dipped down and skimmed the waistband on Chris' boxers or, at least, where the waistband would be if Chris was actually wearing underwear.

"Underpants just slow me down" Chris explained before he reluctantly released Leon's lips and started to make a trail of kisses along the younger man's neck whilst slowly removing his boxers. He knew from experience that one of Leon's weak spots was his neck. As his gentle kisses turned to nips and then to bites, Leon melted into his arms and started to moan, his left hand starting to stroke Chris' rapidly hardening member.

"Oh fuck! Shit! Dios Mio"! A horribly familiar voice gasped from the doorway. Chris let out a growl and looked up. Carlos was standing in the doorway, his brown eyes as wide as saucers.

"What the fuck are you doing Oliveira"? Chris snarled. At the mention of Carlos' name, Leon turned around in Chris arms, careful not to expose himself, to stare at the intruding man.

"Carlos. Since you're part of a couple yourself, I'd have thought you'd have realised what couples get up to in hotel rooms" Leon said levelly.

"Particularly couples as hot as us" Chris added, still sounding and indeed feeling, mightily pissed off. Carlos didn't seem to be making any moves to leave.

"Well that's the problem" Carlos explained, looking away as Leon retrieved his boxers from the floor and put them back on. Chris however, made no moves to cover himself. He was, and there was no denying this, a thing a beauty and if he was too much man for Carlos to handle, well, then that was Carlos' problem not his. "Jill kicked me out of our room"

"And that's our problem why"? Chris asked. This was going to be his last relaxed night for a while and he was damned if he was going to let Carlos Oliveira spoil it. Leon was looking incredibly ravishable right now and he wanted to take full advantage of it.

"I need somewhere to sleep" Carlos said rather sheepishly. "The person behind reception says all of the other rooms are full"

"Go and ask Kevin" Leon suggested helpfully. "He's in a room on his own. He probably has more room than we do"

"What Leon is trying to so tactfully explain" Chris added. "Is that we want to fuck like newlyweds and that, as open-minded as we are, you're not what we had in mind if we were ever going to consider a threesome" He grabbed hold of Leon by the hip and pulled the younger man back down onto the bed. He lightly danced his fingers down the length of his spine, which made Leon shiver with pleasure.

"Well, I wouldn't have put it as…creatively, but yeah, that's pretty much it" Leon said with a nod. "I'm sorry Carlos," He continued, sounding apologetic. "But you can't stay here tonight"

"You heard the man" Chris grinned; now playing with the waistband of the boxer shorts. He was mightily tempted to just rip the damn things off with his teeth. "Now, as your people would say, fucko offo"

Carlos made a noise akin to a snarl before he left the room, slamming the door behind him. Chris nodded triumphantly before turning his full attention back to Leon and his silly little boxer shorts.

"That was slightly harsh" Leon complained as Chris started to kiss his neck once more. He playfully bit the younger man before whispering in his ear.

"Forget Oliveira," He said breathily, his hand wrapping around Leon's hard cock. "I want to fuck you"

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Leon watched the red digits of the black alarm clock change to read 6:25am before he pressed the alarm button. The alarm itself was due to go off at six thirty but he'd already been awake for the best part of an hour. He and Chris had fallen asleep sometime just after midnight having had glorious sex twice. Leon smiled as he remembered some of the things they'd done to each other. Sex with Chris was, he could confidently say, nothing like he'd ever experienced before. Despite the fact that the older man had never been with another man before, he was talented and attentive, knowing and indeed doing all the right things.

Leon rolled over to look at the sleeping bulk of his partner. He longed to reach out and stroke his skin but Chris hated that sort of thing. Whereas Leon found strokes and tickles relaxing and somewhat sensual, Chris found them annoying. He settled for just looking at the older man instead. It was warm in the small hotel room, despite how cold Scotland seemed to be, and Chris was sleeping with the thin white sheet barely covering his genitals. His amazingly muscled torso was mostly on show. The latest addition to his body was a tattoo on the right hand side of his ribcage, a complicated black tribal design stretching the length of his ribcage and ending at his hip. Leon had liked the design so much that he'd had a matching one done on his own body. Another smile played across his lips as he remembered the sex they'd had when he first showed it off to Chris.

He sat up and stretched. He decided to get a shower and try and organise some breakfast before waking the older man. He carefully peeled back the sheets and swung his legs over the bed. He jumped, startled, as his left foot came into contact with something that was definitely not the slightly stained hotel room carpet. The something moaned slightly and uttered a half-unconscious curse in Spanish before rolling over and seemingly going back to sleep. Leon looked down and saw Carlos, still fully dressed, asleep on the floor using Chris' hooded top as a makeshift pillow.

Leon aimed a swift kick at Carlos' ribs. It was calculated so that it was soft enough to not leave any sort of bruising but hard enough to wake him up. Carlos brown eyes shot open and stared up at Leon who glared down at him. Carlos must've sneaked back in at some point during the night. Pervy bastard. Leon was beginning to understand why Chris didn't seem to like him much.

"When did you come back"? He hissed, not wanting to wake Chris up. If possible, he wanted to get Carlos out of the room before Chris woke up and saw him there.

"Only a couple of hours ago" A sheepish looking Carlos replied. "I stayed in the hotel bar until they kicked me out" He pulled himself into a sitting position. "I didn't see anything. Honest"

"I thought you were gonna go to Kevin's room" Leon whispered. Carlos shook his head, running a hand through his already ruffled hair. His clothes were rumpled from sleeping in them and Leon found himself almost feeling sorry for him. "What's going on with you and Jill anyway"?

Carlos looked as if he was about to explain but a knock at the door stopped him in his tracks. At the sound of the loud knock, Chris sat bolt upright in the bed before collapsing back down, startling both Leon and Carlos. Carlos leapt to his feet, accidentally pulling the sheet with him. Obviously bored of waiting for someone to answer, Kevin strolled in, his mouth twitching as he caught sight of Carlos with the bed sheet tangled round his ankle and Leon frantically groping for something to cover up his nudity before finally settling on a pillow. Chris was watching the scene with amusement, seemingly unfettered by his own naked state.

"What the hell did you guys get up to last night"? Kevin asked, folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the doorframe. He smirked as Carlos started uttering some explanation about Jill at the same time Leon was trying to explain that no way, not now, not ever, would Carlos Oliveira be part of his and Chris' sex play. "Well whatever you were up to," Kevin continued. "You'd best get ready. We're supposed to be meeting our contact in an hour" He added, checking his watch. Leon took in the older man's appearance. He was already dressed in his tactical gear. Black combats and a black t-shirt with the BSAA logo stitched on either sleeve. "We'll be picking up our weapons on the chopper" He turned to leave. "I'll see you downstairs. I heard they do a pretty good breakfast here" His mouth twitched with a hint of a smile as he added. "Nice ink Kennedy"

Leon felt a blush creep onto his cheeks as Kevin left. He leapt off the bed and pushed past Carlos to look for his boxer shorts.

"You won't find them." Carlos stated, running his hand through his hair and quickly checking his reflection in the mirror above the tiny battered dressing table. He'd obviously sneaked back to his own room at some point during the night as he was dressed in his own BSAA uniform, olive green combats with a tight green top bearing the BSAA logo. It was the same shirt that Chris wore only Leon personally thought that Chris made it look way better.

"What do you mean I won't find them"? Leon asked. He was painfully aware of his nakedness. He wasn't as confident as Chris. He actually gave a damn as to who saw his ass and dick.

"Chris threw them out of the window in a fit of passion last night" Carlos explained. He was facing Leon now but his eyes were thankfully looking anywhere but the pillow currently guarding Leon's privates. "He said you wouldn't need them again 'cos you were never leaving that bed"

If it were possible for Leon's cheeks to get any redder, they would've done right at that moment.

"It concerns me that YOU know that" He said, making for the black canvas bag that Chris had dumped on the floor upon their arrival. Forgetting all about the pillow, he let it drop and started to rummage through the bag, looking for his uniform. "Anyway. You never did tell me what's gone on between you and Jill"

"Search me" Carlos shrugged. "She's a senorita. You and me both know they act loco" He replied. "I came home and she was just annoyed but wouldn't tell me why" He sighed heavily. "I can understand why you'd rather be with a man. Got to be far less complicated"

"You'd think wouldn't you"? Leon muttered as he stepped into his navy blue combats. Having not served on a field mission yet, he hadn't been given a BSAA uniform. Instead he was making do with what was left over from his Government days. He pulled on his black 5.11 tactical shirt before delving into the bag and brought out his handgun.

"Now there's a weapon"! Carlos remarked as Leon checked over the gun. "I thought Kevin said we were getting our weapons on the chopper"?

"You are" Leon replied simply. He tucked the gun down the waistband of his combats and pulled the shirt down over it. If he slipped his hoodie on over the top, it would be safely out of sight.

"Oh I see" Carlos nodded sagely as Leon moved around the side of the bed. "Government issue"?

"Nope" Leon answered. He gave Chris a gentle shake. "C'mon, time to get up" He sighed when no movement came from his lover. "Chris"! He said, shaking more forcefully. He was still aware of Carlos watching him. "Look, are you going to stand there all day"?

"Mmm…that's what I like to hear" Chris suddenly shifted on the bed, his eyes opening, a smile stretching across his face as he saw Leon looking down at him. "The sweet sound of my Honey-Bunch putting Oliveira in his place…" He yawned loudly, scratching his stomach as he did so. "You find your boxers"? He asked with a smug grin as Carlos made a hasty exit.

"Surprisingly no" Leon replied sardonically.

"Excellent" Chris sat up and planted a kiss on Leon's forehead. "The world needs less underwear"

"But the world does need you in clothes" Leon picked his hoodie up from the floor and pulled it on over his head. "So get a move on"

"Sure thing Agent HB"!

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Chris glared contemptuously at the back of the black helmet. The letters 'BSAA' had been stencilled on it in red paint. Chris snorted at that, it was self-importance on the wearer's part. He had an overwhelming urge to rap on the top of the helmet as hard as he could.

"Chris"! A sharp voice momentarily distracted him from radiating his waves of hate at the helmeted pilot. He didn't need to turn around to know that Jill was wearing her most disapproving look. She'd used that tone often enough in their brief relationship and it had almost been accompanied by a disapproving face.

"So what's Redfield's problem anyway"? Kevin asked. The group were in the chopper, somewhere past the Shetland Islands, making their way to the oil rig. Chris and Jill were sitting on one of the benches in the chopper's cramped cabin with Leon, Kevin and Carlos on the opposite side. Carlos had tried to sit next to Jill but she'd pulled Chris down beside her before he could sit down.

"Yeah Chris, what is up"? Leon asked. Chris smiled back at his lover. Between Jill's disapproval and Kevin's mocking grin, Leon's genuine smile was welcome.

"It's Brad" Jill replied shortly before Chris could even open his mouth to reply. Chris rolled his eyes with annoyance. He figured that because he was no longer in a relationship with her, he'd finally get the chance to speak for himself. Turns out that that wasn't the case. She indicated at the black helmet owner with a nod of her head.

"Jill. Please" Chris said. "If you're going to talk about him then refer to him properly. It's The Chicken"

"That's Brad Vickers"? Leon asked incredulously. They'd arrived at the chopper so late that there had been no time for introductions. The blades were already whirring away when they'd arrived and there was no time to do anything other than climb aboard. Chris had been acting a little weird ever since. Now he nodded and smiled at Leon. He knew that his lover would understand. He'd told Leon all about how Brad had stranded Alpha Team during the events of the Spencer Mansion. Chris hadn't seen or heard from Brad since then so it was annoying to find out that he would be their pilot for the mission. "You told me he was short, fat and fucking ugly" Leon paused to remember Chris' exact words. "And that he smelt bad" He added.

"Chris"! Jill exclaimed as if Chris were a naughty child speaking out of turn. "Don't you think it's time you got over yourself? Brad came back and he helped us escape"

"He came back"? Leon's grey eyes looked back at Chris reproachfully. "You didn't tell me that"!

Chris snorted and shrugged. Judging by the look on Leon's face, he'd just lost his support. He supposed, deep down, there was a small part of him that had actually been pleased to see his old S.T.A.R.S colleague again. Not that he was going to admit that to the others of course.

"Guys, check it out" Carlos interrupted, pointing out of the cabin window. "Looks like we're here"

Chris stared out of the window. Below them, a tiny man-made island sat in the middle of the massive expanse of the ocean. The blue waters lapped four, thick cylindrical metal struts that disappeared beneath the depths of the water. Orange and red cranes stuck out from various points along the body of the rig, making it appear, from the air at least, like a demented spider preparing to scuttle across the water's surface. A range of white platforms sitting at different heights made up the rig's body. One of these platforms had a large brown 'H' painted on it. In the middle of the rig was a tall, black metal structure, resembling a ladder from a child's jungle gym. It stretched upwards into the sky, an orange light sitting on top of it.

"Bringing her in now" Brad's voice came from the pilot's seat. Chris felt his stomach turn as the helicopter slowed and started to descend towards the landing pad. It was hard to believe that this seemingly benign construction secretly housed another one of Umbrella's twisted facilities. He looked across the cabin and saw Leon staring at his hands, clad in their leather fingerless gloves. He gave the younger man a nudge with the toe of his boot. Leon looked up at him immediately, his grey eyes unreadable.

'You ok'? Chris mouthed at his lover. Leon responded with a simple nod. Chris however, was far from convinced.

Brad landed the helicopter with apparent ease. The group walked onto the main platform, weapons drawn. The rig seemed, just as Barry had said, deserted. Chris had expected that Brad would leave as soon as he'd dropped them off but, to his surprise, he grabbed his own weapon and joined them.

"You've got to be fucking kidding" He spat. "Really Bradley"?

"Chris"! Jill's tone was, once again, scolding. She was starting to sound like a stuck record. Brad offered him a smile but Chris ignored it.

"Whatever Bradley" He said moodily. "You're only thirteen years late to the fight but better late than never"

Jill looked like she was going to say something again but thought better of it. Chris shoved Brad out of the way and took the lead.

"I'm the Captain here" He snarled. The group moved forward, sweeping the area and keeping an eye out for anything strange. They came to the centre of the rig and were facing the large, ladder like structure that they'd seen from the chopper. Now they were up close, even was even more impressive and expansive. At the base of it was a set of elevator doors that obviously led down into the facility.

"Well, it's now or never guys" Kevin said, pressing the call button. A soft 'ding' indicated that the elevator was on its way.

"Hmm" Jill appeared to be deep in thought. "Don't you think that if there had been a mass evacuation from the facility that the lift would be at the top of the shaft and not at the bottom of it"?

"So what you're saying is-" Chris felt his stomach turn. Jill nodded gravely.

"There's probably people down there and they're probably infected" She continued.

"It doesn't really come as a surprise though does it"? Leon was at Chris' other side, his tone serious. "It's Umbrella. There's going to be something down there. It's just a case of how likely it is to kill us"

"We'll take care of it" Carlos butted in confidently. He held up his Beretta with a grin on his face. "We're well leaded"

"Some of us more than others eh Oliveira"? Kevin said suggestively as the elevator doors opened. He stepped aside. "Ladies first" He nodded at Jill who smiled at him before stepping into the elevator. Carlos glared at Kevin before shoving him aside to follow Jill. "Hey man, just 'cos I know how to treat the ladies"!

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Stepping into the lift was like stepping into another world entirely. In total contrast to the cluttered, industrial look of the oilrig, the lift was white and airy and could've easily fit fifteen people comfortably. The back wall was entirely glass so as the lift started to descend, they could see out. As soon as the lift shaft went below the surface, it too seemed to be constructed entirely from glass so that it resembled a thick, clear tube. They could see the slightly murky waters of the ocean. Upon seeing this for the first time Brad, who had been previously leaning against the back wall, leapt backwards and almost collided with the doors.

"Jesus Bradley, you're not scared are you"? Chris teased as Brad appeared to be looking anywhere but the glass wall. "That's not like you…"

"You ever gonna let the man forget Raccoon"? Carlos asked. He looked over at Jill, obviously hoping that this display of maturity and gallantry for Brad would impress her. If it did, she certainly didn't show it. Instead she looked out of the lift, seemingly interested in the ocean.

"I don't know U.B.C.S" Chris sneered. He took great delight in using another one of his favoured nicknames for Carlos. It wasn't like he hated the guy or anything; he just didn't like the fact that he'd once worked for Umbrella. It was obvious the guy's morals could be dictated by however much money he was offered and, as someone who'd fought the good fight for years with very little to his name because of it, it irked him somewhat. It had bugged him even more when Jill had decided to get together with him. Apparently she didn't care about his past.

A silence fell over the group as the lift continued to descend. Judging by the serious expressions on everyone's faces, they were obviously deep in thought as to what horrors awaited them. Jill and Carlos were staring at the floor, Jill's look thoughtful, Carlos' somewhat blank. Brad was now leant against the doors, his thumbs hooked into his belt loops in an attempt to look casual and relaxed. The effect was ruined by the fact that his hands were visibly shaking. Kevin was looking out into the ocean, picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of his BSAA top.

Leon looked thoughtful too, staring down at the bump in his glove where his engagement ring sat underneath the soft leather. Chris wondered if the younger man was thinking about Sherry again. Chris stared down at his own, matching ring. He hated to see Leon suffer and it seemed like since they'd met each other, he'd done nothing but suffer. That was why he hadn't been too happy when Leon had told him about wanting to join the BSAA. The day that he'd been released from the Secret Service had been a happy day for Chris. It had given him hope that Leon would take some time out for himself and try to recover from the problems his PTSD brought him. The nightmares had been particularly horrible. It had pained Chris to hear his lover's frightened cries as he was cruelly yanked from sleep by his own mind. The sleeping tablets had helped but then came the flashbacks during the day.

Chris couldn't stand the silence any longer. He needed to say something, anything to try and break it and stop his mind wandering off to think about his lover's mental health. If he thought too much about it, he'd stop the damn lift right at that moment and insist that Brad fly him and Leon back to America. He struggled to think of something to say that might possibly lighten the mood until eventually, something came to him.

"I hate you Brad" He said it simply, casually, almost as if he was having a friendly conversation with a neighbour. Jill rolled her eyes at him and Carlos smirked. Kevin shook his head but also smiled. Leon, obviously wanting to maintain the mature high ground, stifled his chuckle behind his right hand. Brad just looked at him wearily. Chris grinned. It was amazing how quickly Brad had got used to Chris ribbing him again. It was almost like they were back in the S.T.A.R.S office during those good old days when Brad was often the butt of his jokes or pranks. Sure Brad had once taken a week off due to stress but it had all been in good fun. Chris looked over at Jill to see if she was also experiencing this nostalgic feeling but she just looked irritated. Chris held up both of his hands. "Hey, just breaking the tension" He explained. "Anyway" He nodded towards Brad. "He doesn't mind. He would've said if he minded"

"I did used to mind actually…" Brad started but Chris cut him off.

"Bradley. Please. Jill and I were talking" He shook his head in, mock disbelief. "Some people are so rude"

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Eventually, after what seemed like hours, the lift came to a stop. The doors opened up with a gentle ping and, as they stepped out of a lift into the corridor, Leon realised that it was made entirely out of glass. He supposed that if it weren't an Umbrella facility they'd just stepped into, it would be pretty impressive. The corridor curved away from him at both ends, almost as if they were standing in the middle of an inner tube. Leon looked through the glass and out into the murky waters. He could just about make out the other side of the glass ring. If he looked down, he could see dull lights.

"Check this out guys" Leon turned to see Kevin pointing to a large picture frame fixed to the glass wall. Stuck inside the frame was an artists' rendition of what was presumably the facility they were in. Their current location seemed to be the centrepiece of the structure with four lifts, each leading to a separate cylindrical sections labelled, North, South, East and West. Attached to each one of these sections was a diagonal freight lift that attached to the disc, which was labelled 'Maintenance Staff'. The painfully neat line drawing also showed a section that appeared to be underneath the sea bed which had been labelled 'Brig and Generators' in the same neat, sloping script. The drawing reminded Leon of the pictures he'd seen in his Uncle's old Sci-fi fantasy books from the 1960's about people living on the moon.

"Oh this has gotta be another one of Spencer's fucked up ideas" Chris said, regarding the drawing and shaking his head.

"This feels really unsafe" Brad was looking down at the glass beneath his feet as if he was expecting it to crack any minute.

"Where do you want to start then guys?" Kevin asked, motioning to the drawing. Jill seemed to stare at it thoughtfully for a second before she answered. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that Jill was the most organised of the group and therefore the one who would be taking charge. It felt rather jarring to Leon who had been used to working alone for so long to be suddenly part of a group.

"I think we should start on the top levels and work our way down" Jill replied. She tapped the drawing. "Start at the North section here and work our way round clockwise before going down to the Maintenance Staff level," She added thoughtfully.

"Sounds like a plan" Carlos said with a sycophantic nod. Leon couldn't help but smirk as Jill rebuffed him once again. He wondered what Carlos had done and remembered that the older man hadn't actually gotten round to explaining.

"That's a woman's logic for you" Kevin gave Jill a gentle clap on the back. "Infallible" He grinned at her and she blushed slightly and smiled back at him before adjusting her cap and stepping towards the North elevator. Leon heard the low growl from Carlos. So did Kevin.

"What's up Oliveira"? He said teasingly as the group started to follow Jill's lead. "Jealous because I've made your girl laugh more than you've obviously done recently"?

The growl turned to a snarl. Chris and Jill were deep in conversation, completely unaware of the situation. It appeared that although Kevin was teasing, there was possibly some serious tension between the two men.

"They say people are either lovers or fighters" Kevin continued, unaware of just how pissed off Carlos was. "Which are you Oliveira? Cos from where I'm standing, you're neither…"

Luckily, years of Secret Service training meant that Leon was fast. Fast, accurate and very effective. He stopped Carlos just before the older man made a grab for Kevin's throat. Brad, who had been hanging around at the back of the group, suddenly surged forward and grabbed Kevin by the shoulder, turning him away and effectively leading him in the direction of Chris and Jill. Leon gave him a grateful nod. Carlos was squirming in his grip, muttering a hail of curses in a mixture of English and Spanish. Occasionally, the two languages merged, creating new and interesting insults which, had the situation been different, Leon might've found amusing.

"Should've let me strangle him" Carlos said, after Leon finally released him.

"We're supposed to be working as a team," Leon reminded him. "Stop acting like an overly macho idiot" He added harshly. Carlos uttered a final curse before appearing to take Leon's words on board. The pair of them walked behind the others, Carlos continually shooting deadly looks at the back of Kevin's head.

The lift ride to the North section of the facility was, thankfully, a short one. They stepped out into a strange, stark corridor, roughly six metres wide. The floor beneath their feet was black and so highly polished that they could see their blurred reflections in it. It looked as though it was made from expensive marble. The ceiling was the same deep black but the colour was broken up by a wide strip of gleaming silver metal with long strip lights built into it, all the same, painfully precise distance from each other. The light from above bounced off the corridor's walls, which were constructed using the same silver metal as the ceiling. Overall, it gave the corridor a futuristic feel but one that was slightly dated, as if it had been conceived back in the Sixties when people were convinced this was what the buildings of tomorrow would look like.

"This has gotta be one of Spencer's ideas" Chris reiterated, marvelling at how clean the place seemed. Jill nodded her agreement. Chris dragged the tip of his boot across the surface of the black marble, grinning with pleasure when it created an ugly blurry smudge across the floor.

"Small victories huh"? Leon commented. Chris smirked and gave his lover a cocky nod.

"Shit" Jill cursed. She was fiddling with the radio that was attached to her gun belt. She shook her head. "My radio's out. Static on all channels"

Leon checked his own radio and found his had the same problem. Judging by the dismayed looks on the rest of the group's faces, their radios were the same story.

"Great, so now Barry can't contact us" Kevin grumbled.

"And we can't contact each other if we get split up" Jill added darkly.

Carlos was the first of the group to venture forth into the corridor, making a point of shoving Kevin as he did so. He stepped lightly, trying to avoid the inevitable squeak of his boots on the floor. He kept his gun drawn, ready for a surprise attack. The others followed, their own guns drawn, their own feet light. Leon could see Brad's handgun trembling slightly in his grasp. It reminded him painfully of himself upon his arrival in Raccoon. God knows how he kept hold of his gun back then, his fingers were so sweaty. He felt a rush of sympathy for Brad although he barely knew the guy. Chris, on the rare occasions Brad's name had come up, had always been disparaging about his former colleague.

"Ok, so anyone else getting a bit weirded out by the lack of roaming monsters"? Chris asked. "Don't know about you Leon but even Krauser's ugly mug would be a welcome sight now"

"Who's Krauser"? Brad asked as the group moved down the hallway. Leon opened his mouth to answer but Chris got there quicker.

"A jealous ex of Leon's" He said with a perfectly straight face and tone. Brad's eyes widened as he looked at Leon. Chris chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Bradley, Bradley, Bradley…you'll believe anything"!

"Shut up Chris" Jill ordered in a matter of fact voice. Leon noticed that Brad's grateful look that he'd directed towards her lingered more than was usually polite. She didn't appear to notice, nor did Carlos. Chris was too busy gloating to care and Kevin was examining a door.

"Can't hear anything on the other side," Kevin said, his ear pressed to the cold steel door. There was a small panel on the side of the wall next to it. Readying his weapon again, Kevin pressed it and the door slid open. The group stepped into the room, one by one, and slowly fanned out.

"Oh Jesus…" Carlos muttered as it dawned on the group just what they had stepped into. Tiled white from floor to ceiling, the room appeared to be some sort of operating room. There were multiple dissection slabs, dappled with streaks of blood that were rust coloured with age. Gutters ran around each table and the only remains of whatever gruesome operations had been performed was the lone body of a large shark laying prone on the table closest to the left hand wall.

"Looks like Umbrella have been up to their old tricks" Kevin commented, wrinkling his nose at the smell. The room, now devoid of human occupation, smelt terrible. A sickening feeling settled in Leon's stomach and he noted, with bitter humour, that the smell of rotting flesh was something that he was used to.

"At least this one's dead" Chris remarked as he slowly edged over to the shark. Staring at the rotting remains of the shark brought back memories he'd thought were long buried. Memories of the flooded basement of the Guardhouse, trying to run in the deep water and ultimately tripping up, all the while trying to stay behind the vicious beasts so they couldn't take a chunk out of his legs or any other part of him they could reach.

"Careful Chris…" Leon warned, following closely behind his lover. Jill, Carlos and Brad were edging around the other wall, still wary in case anything might jump out for a surprise attack. Kevin was still by the doorway, guarding it. He didn't seem all that keen to come further into the room.

Chris, obviously satisfied that the shark no longer posed a threat, moved on quickly towards a row of sinks. Leon stuck close to the wall, noting with interest, a hole in it cover by thick red flaps of plastic. It was quite large and looked like it was possibly some form of disposal hatch, probably for biological waste. He shuddered at the thought of what might be lurking down there, bits and pieces of human and creature alike, dumped heartlessly by Umbrella scientists as though it was worthless trash.

He was closer to the shark now. Close enough to see that it had something sticking out of its thick tail. A syringe. He could see that there was still some liquid left within it, a purple, inky like substance. He moved forwards. If he could get the syringe then maybe they could find a way to analyse it. If it was some new type of virus and they found survivors that were infected, they'd have a better chance of developing an anti-virus if they had a sample of the original virus to start with.

Leon holstered his gun, opting instead for his knife. If the beast wasn't actually dead and made a sudden move, he'd stand a better chance with the knife at such a close range. He unsheathed the shining blade, well looked after, with a black dragon etched at the base of it. His fingers tightened around the grip he knew so well, the knife becoming an extension of his body. He moved forwards and his hand closed around the syringe. He pulled at it and it came away easily.

A sudden, heavy, flapping fin knocked his blade out of his hand. It flew away from him, hitting the wall and landing on the floor with a loud clatter. Chris and the others whipped around, weapons at the ready but it was too late.

Chris felt every single drop of blood in his body turn to ice as he turned around just in time to see the horrible mutant shark thrashing wildly on the slab. The bulky mass that was its tail suddenly collided with Leon's body with such a brutal force that it sent the younger man flying towards the wall. Chris cried out, as Leon suddenly seemed to disappear. He ran forwards blindly, numbly aware of the gunfire around him. Someone was screaming his name, Jill most likely, but all he could think about was Leon. He reached the wall, palms slapping against the tiles as he hit it. The shark was prone now, stilled by the slew of bullets that had been fired into its body.

He wanted to scream when he realised why Leon had disappeared. There was a large hole in the wall, large enough for someone to fall through. He growled as thick plastic flaps tried to prevent him from reaching his lover. He grabbed a handful of them and tore them from the metal frame. He tossed them aside, not caring where they landed. The hole was dark and obviously led to some kind of chute. Chris didn't care, he had to find Leon, he just had to…

Something was stopping him. More of those flaps? No…not flaps, someone, not something. Hands. Strong hands.

"Chris"! A male voice, sounding strained, as if he was using all of his strength to stop him from following Leon. "Get…a…fucking…grip"!

Another pair of hands joined the first and he was being pulled back, pulled away. Away from the hole and away from Leon. He tried to struggle but the two pairs of hands were too strong. One of them held his arms behind his back in a powerful lock, the others on his shoulders, pushing him back from the front.

"Fuck Redfield! How much do you fucking weigh"? Kevin's voice filtered into his consciousness. It was his hands on his shoulders. Kevin fucking Ryman.

"Get off me you floppy haired fucktard"! He bellowed in Kevin's face. He tried to punch him, to get him out of the way. All that mattered was getting down that hole. He remembered the hands that currently had him in an arm lock. He twisted his head round and saw the owner of these hands was Carlos. "And you! Fucking U.B.C.S. fucking Nazi scum! Get the fuck off me! Leon's down there"!

"Chris"! A hand on his face, grabbing his chin. It was a soft hand, a calming hand with a soothing voice. The red mist that had blinded him cleared slightly enough for him to see that it was Jill. Her blue eyes looking straight into his. "Chris you can't follow him…" Her eyes looked away from a moment. "Let him go" And the hands released him. He was vaguely aware of Carlos and Kevin backing away.

"Leon…" Not a name, but a plea. Jill was looking at him now with sorrow in her eyes. He couldn't stand it. Leon was gone. He wanted to break down, to scream, to tear apart the entire place until he found him.

"We'll find out where it goes," Jill said confidently. Chris would've felt a lot more confident if she'd have looked him in the eyes when she said that. He knew Jill. He'd known her long enough to know what that meant.

"No"! A loud, forceful sound that echoed around the room. "He's not dead Jill"

"I didn't-" Jill started to plead her innocence but he shook his head, cutting her off. Ok, so she'd calmed him down and he was grateful for that. It meant that he could clearly see how he was going to sort this out. He moved back towards the chute and saw Kevin and Carlos step forward again. He glared at them.

"I'm not going to leap down there so back the fuck off" He warned. Kevin and Carlos could be frequently stupid but they weren't that stupid. Their movements ceased immediately. Feeling his heart pounding in his chest, Chris leant over the hole. "Leon"! He shouted as loud as he could. "Leon! Can you hear me"? He waited a few seconds. "Leon"! His voice echoed down the chute. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Chris…"

"Jill…if you try and tell me that he's dead, then I swear to God…" Chris replied, still looking into the horrible blackness of the chute.

"We don't know where that goes," She continued gently.

"It looks like it's a chute for clinical waste," A voice piped up from behind them. Chris turned around and Brad was there, one of the torn plastic flaps in his hands. "These flaps have the biohazard symbol printed on them" He held out the flap for them to examine but Chris batted it away. He felt Jill's hand tighten on his shoulder. "If it's a clinical waste chute" Brad continued, seemingly oblivious to how pissed off he was. "Then it could lead to a furnace or a-" Before Brad could finish his sentence; Chris landed a hard punch to his former colleague's jaw. Brad's head snapped back impressively, blood exploding from his bottom lip.

"Leon. Is. Not. Dead"

"Chris"! Jill had released him and had rushed to Brad who was now sprawled on the floor, blood dribbling from his split lip. Jill knelt beside him and extracted a gauze pad from the Medikit she'd attached to her belt. Carlos and Kevin were looking on, a mixture of horror and shock on their faces. Chris glared at them all, breathing heavily. What did he care? He didn't need any of them. The one person he needed had just disappeared down some godforsaken hole in the wall. "Look Chris" Jill was back at his side now, having enlisted Kevin's help to deal with Brad. "None of us want to think about what might've happened to Leon but we all know that it's a real possibility that he won't be coming back-"

"I'll say that to you shall I when Oliveira gets chewed on by a Tyrant or something? See how much you like hearing it" Chris spat bitterly. What the fuck were these people thinking? "I don't care what any of you say. Leon's not dead. And I'm going to go and find him. Fuck what's going on in this place. I don't care. Leon's all that matters to me now. So…" He folded his arms across his chest and glared at the others. "Are any of you going to come with me"?

"I don't think-" Jill started to say but surprisingly; the voice that cut her off wasn't the voice that Chris expected.

"I'll go" Brad had picked himself off the floor and was staring straight at him. The blood staunched gauze pad was still pressed to his lip. Somewhere, underneath his anger, Chris was beginning to feel guilty. He'd always given Brad a hard time, even before the mansion incident. He didn't bully him exactly, but he had often targeted him for practical jokes. And now, when it mattered the most, it wasn't Jill or Kevin that were stepping forward to help him, it was Brad.

"Guys, I really don't think this is a good idea," Jill said as Brad dabbed at his still bleeding lip.

"Look Jill" Chris felt the rumblings of rage building up inside of him. Her words felt like a betrayal. There was a small part of him, deep down, that knew if it hadn't have been Leon that had fallen, then he might've been able to look at the situation logically. It was a long drop; they didn't know where it ended. It could lead to a furnace or straight out into the ocean so even if he had survived the fall it was still very unlikely he'd be alive. But it was because it was Leon that stopped him thinking this. Leon was the most important part of his world and there was no way he was ever going to accept that he had just died. They'd been through so much together in such a relatively short amount of time that it wasn't an option. His brain would simply not compute that the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with was no longer breathing. "I really don't care what you think," He continued bluntly. Her face flashed with hurt but he couldn't stop now. "I'm willing to give up on him just yet. You may well be but I'm not" She opened her mouth, obviously to argue but he held up his hand. "You and the others can carry on with the mission but Brad and I will be taking the closest lift to the bottom levels. Leon's down there somewhere and I'm going to go and get him" He'd spotted a door at the opposite end of the room and it seemed as good a place as any to start looking for a lift. He made a move towards it. "I never gave up on you," He added quietly. "Not when everyone, your precious boyfriend included, told me you were dead". He stared her out and she looked at the floor. It was a cheap way of making his point but he didn't care.

Chris' words seemed to have ushered the group into an uncomfortable silence. There was a harsh tension in the air, very different from an hour or so ago when Chris had been teasing Brad. The door that he'd spotted opened into a large corridor that, like the ring before it, was made entirely out of glass. The sight had lost its original wonder, with no-one pausing to stare at the dark depths of the ocean that were clearly visible. They moved along the corridor silently, Chris and Brad bringing up the rear. Brad had dumped the bloody gauze pad and was now sporting an impressively swollen lip. He kept glancing at Chris and giving him little smiles of encouragement. He ended up looking more condescending but at least the thought was there. Jill seemed to be suitably cowed by Chris' earlier words and had snapped straight back into her business-like demeanour, stressing the importance of having their weapons drawn and listening out for people or creatures.

They were about halfway along the corridor, the opposite end's door in sight, when the floor beneath them started to shake. Out of the corner of his eye, Chris could see movement on the other side of the glass. He turned to look, his warning catching in his throat as he caught sight of a large, black mass moving rapidly towards the corridor at an accelerated speed. It was moving so quickly that he couldn't even get a good look at what it was. He heard a frightened gasp and he knew that Brad had seen it too. It moved through the water smoothly, barrelling straight towards them.

"What the fuck is that"? Kevin yelled.

"Move"! Jill screamed. Chris grabbed Brad and the pair leapt backwards. He saw Jill, Carlos and Kevin leap forwards. The creature smashed through the corridor, sending shards of glass flying in all directions. The water burst forth from the broken glass. Chris could hear Jill shouted but the rushing water drowned her words out. Separated by the huge gap in the glass, Chris and Brad had no choice but to go back the way they came. They turned around and saw that a thick, metal shutter was quickly closing, obviously to minimise the flooding. Chris hauled Brad to his feet and the two of them dived through the rapidly closing gap. He heard the shutter clang shut behind them. The water that had made it into the operating room had created a large puddle across the tiled floor.

"Do you-do you think they made it"? Brad stuttered, staring at the shutter in shock. "What was that thing"?

"Don't know. Didn't see" Chris replied breathlessly, shaking the excess water out of his hair. All he did know was that they were now separated from Jill, Carlos and Kevin and that they had no way of contacting them.

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Leon opened his eyes and found himself in darkness. He was laying on his back on something that was very soft and very wet. He could feel something cold soaking through the material of his top. He could remember falling down the chute after the shark started to go beserk. He'd been winded by the shark's tail and he remembered that it felt like he was falling forever before he'd finally landed, the landing knocking him out cold. He gingerly moved each of his limbs, one after the other, quickly ascertaining that nothing was broken. He was lucky, if that was the right word, that whatever he'd landed on had broken his fall.

As he came to his senses, he was hit by a gut churning stench that suddenly inflamed his nostrils. Dread started to bubble up in his stomach when he realised what that smell was. Death. The smell of decaying bodies. It was a smell that had forever haunted his nightmares and flashbacks. Every single one of his nightmares had started like this. Trapped in the darkness with the smell of death all around him. What followed next would be the zombies, clawing at him with their rotting fingers caked in the blood of those they'd already murdered. His hands quickly scrambled for his gun only for him to realise that it wasn't there. He cursed silently. It must've fallen from his gun belt during the fall. His knife was gone too.

With no immediate weapons to hand he was going to have to play this one carefully. He pushed down the thoughts and panic that were trying to overcome his mind. Chris wasn't here. It was just like old times when he had nobody but himself to rely on. He'd done it before and he could do it again. He scrambled to his feet. Icy waves radiated down his spine as his foot sunk down into something wet and soft like mud. Only it wasn't very likely to be mud. The smell was getting hard to ignore. He took another step forward. Something crunched underfoot. If he thought logically about his surroundings then there was only one possible explanation for the terrain and the choking smell. He'd fallen into a body dump. A place where the Umbrella scientists dumped their dead, heaving exhausted their uses.

But how did he know that everything around him was actually dead? The smell alone wasn't enough. Even a relatively fresh zombie smelt rotten. The darkness around him could hold anything. He could feel the sweat starting to run down his back. He took a deep breath, rooting himself in reality. It had been a year since he'd seen active duty and he couldn't believe how out of practice it made him feel. He told himself that he still had things stored in his muscle memory. He could still kick ass. If he wanted to, he could take down as many zombies as it took to find the exit. He was determined to survive and prove Barry's doubts about his abilities. More than anything he was going to get back to Chris.

If he was right and he was in a body dump then it meant that the room couldn't be that big. All he needed to do was reach one of the walls. If he did that, he could work his way around the room until he found the door. He moved slowly and cautiously, his arms outstretched and groping, waiting to come into contact with something solid. The only sounds in the whole room were hit boots wading through the decaying remains of the dead and his breathing which was hitched and tense. He felt as if he were on high alert, listening out for the tell tale moans of the living dead or the clicking of claws as something skittered across the floor towards him. Every step he took was tentative and each time he moved, he prodded the floor in front of him with the toe of his boot first. It felt like he was walking across a field full of potholes that had been covered with a thick duvet. His stomach churned as he felt his combats become saturated with the viscous fluids from the bodies.

His hands suddenly came into contact with cold metal. He spread his palms across it and almost laughed with relief when he realised that he'd found one of the walls at last. He leant against it, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. The muscles in his jaw were starting to ache from keeping his teeth clenched. He moved his right boot and something underneath it popped, unleashing a fresh wave of the rancid stench. Bile rose in his throat and he had to fight hard to keep the contents of his stomach in check.

He started sidestepping to the left, slowly working his way around the wall. Every so often his boot would come into contact with something that would split or burst underfoot releasing more of the noxious smell of decay. His fingers clenched against the wall. In the darkness it was so much harder to tell himself that he wasn't in Raccoon City. But if it was Raccoon, which one? The original in all its glory with hoards of gruesome monsters ready to tear him apart? Where he had to fire a gun at a human for the first time? Or was it Wesker's twisted version. Constructed to torture him and mess with his head before their final confrontation with him and Sherry's death.

Oh god how he wished Chris was here. Sherry had never been, and still wasn't, a place where his head could go. He moved past a corner and onto the next wall, fear stabbing at his heart when a bone crunched under his boots. The same crunch he'd heard as Sherry's head hit the ground. He's in dark waters now, swimming through memories and feelings that threaten to drown him. Wesker, dressed all in black, smirking as they try to kill him and he won't die, he won't stay the fuck down.

After what felt like an age, he felt something sticking in his waist. It was cold and hard. The door handle! He wrenched it open, gripping the handle so hard that if felt like his knuckles were going to burst free from his skin. He ran through the open doorway and slammed the door behind him. He didn't need to see what he'd left behind. The sudden light hurt his eyes but it was also like waking up and coming back to reality. He appeared to be in a cramped corridor, the sort that might lead to a boiler room. It was lined with pipes and valves. He looked down to see that he was standing knee deep in murky water that had a distinctly chemical smell. He took a few deep breaths, relishing in the fact that after the body dump, this corridor smelled quite fresh.

He needed to work out how he was going to get back to Chris and the others. This corridor was a stark contrast to the ones on the higher levels. It was painted dark grey and lined with the networks of pipes and valves. It obviously wasn't a corridor where anyone of significant importance was supposed to tread. The slight flooding probably had something to do with why the facility seemed deserted. A bitter smile crossed his features. Probably some sort of the leak. That old chestnut. He started to wade through the water, hoping that whatever chemical was in it, wouldn't start eating away at his flesh.

0000000000000000000

"Well isn't that just perfect" Kevin spat sarcastically as the shutter clanged shut behind them. "We've been separated" He plucked at his soaking wet BSAA uniform in disgust. "And I could've stayed at home with my wife and child but, oh no, good old Kevin, always thinking of the greater good" He helped Jill to her feet. "So, are we all good or is anyone bleeding to death"?

"I'm fine" Jill answered.

"Me too" Carlos replied. He attempted to help Jill wring out the front of her top but she batted him away irritably. Kevin saw and rolled his eyes expressively.

"Well I sure picked the short straw when it came to colleagues" He said. "The two that won't even talk to each other" He looked at them both levelly. "Why won't you talk to each other anyway? We're obviously missing something so, care to fill me in"?

"It's none of your business" Jill and Carlos both snapped at the same time. Kevin smirked at the pair of them.

"See"? He teased. "You can agree on something! But seriously Jill, can you at least talk to him? You don't have to like him, hell, none of us do but for the sake of the mission it would really help it if you could both communicate" He offered them a grin. "You sure you don't wanna tell me what he's done? I'm sure whatever it is, he's very sorry and won't do it again"

"I'd kinda like to know what I've done too" Carlos said, looking at Jill who shook her head at him dismissively.

"Well if you don't know, I'm not telling you" She said, folding her arms across her chest. Carlos snorted and Kevin howled in frustration. "But you do have a point Kevin. We have more important things to worry about now" She turned on her heel and started to stalk down the corridor they'd dived into. It was the same as the one that had originally led to the operating room. Doors lined either side of it and each one had a name printed on it in black lettering.

"Archimedes Room, Dopel Room, Curie Room, Newton Room, what's with the weird room names"? Kevin asked, reading some of the doors. "Do you think they're the offices of the scientists"?

"They're famous physicists" Carlos replied quietly. "All famous for their notable achievements" He added. "We've probably found the research department"

"How the hell did YOU know something like that"? Kevin asked with open shock. Carlos shrugged but didn't comment. There was obviously a lot more to him than Kevin had ever given him credit for. "Well, on that slightly surreal note, which one shall we try first"?

Jill nodded towards the door closest to them, the Archimedes Room. Kevin pressed himself against the door, his hand on the doorknob. He nodded to Carlos who drew his gun. Just because the facility seemed deserted didn't mean that it actually was. Kevin suddenly pushed open the door and burst into the room. Jill followed close behind and Carlos stayed in the hallway on guard duty. Fortunately, the room was completely empty. There were marks on the maroon carpet where a desk and filing cabinet had obviously once stood. The only sign of occupation was a stack of disturbed papers in a corner that looked like they been torn out of a filing cabinet.

"I wonder what happened here" Jill thought aloud as she approached the papers.

"Probably someone who had the sense to resign" Kevin said with a shrug. "Are we all clear Carlos"?

"Everything's bueno out here" Carlos called back.

Jill shuffled through stack of papers. Each sheet was dated and written in the same neat, sloping script. As she knelt down to read them, it became obvious that she was reading a diary that had been torn apart. The few entries chronicled the owner's daily movements but nothing at all about their work within the facility. As she read on, it became clear that the diary's owner was having problems with some of the other researchers. The owner complained about feeling bullied and isolated and the entries were becoming more and more filled with paranoia about how the owner thought their work was being stolen. There was a gap of two weeks in the dates. The next entry took a far more sinister turn.

_15th July_

_Oh Diary, they looked so pretty. Brains and blood splattered across the floor. They thought that using my own gas against me would scupper my research. Little did they know how powerful it would make me…and now, now they're all dead. They begged for their lives diary and it was glorious. It made me all the more determined to end their worthless lives…_

Jill's stomach turned and she quickly crumpled up the page. Was this the reason why the facility was so deserted? The actions of one researcher gone mad? If that was the case then what had happened to them?

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It didn't take Chris and Brad very long to come across another elevator. They'd backtracked through the operating room and to the first corridor they'd originally been in. They'd followed it along until it had turned a corner. It was here that they'd found an elevator. They'd rushed in and taken it to the lowest floor that it would go. It turned out to be the maintenance floor and they'd stepped out into some sort of recreation area. It was a large rectangular room with dull metallic walls. They only windows were small brass portholes, evenly spaced out along the walls. At the opposite end of the room was a large door. A metal gantry encircled the room with metal grill to the right which led up to it. To their left were a couple of pool tables and in the back corner, a small bar which looked as if it had been hastily constructed using spare plywood. Tarnished metal chairs and tables were dotted around the room. Some had glasses atop them and others had playing cards, chess sets or draughts, all laid out like they were in the middle of a game and had been quickly abandoned.

"I think it's safe to say that there was an outbreak of some kind here" Brad mused. Since they'd been separated from the others, they'd largely been silent. Chris just shrugged at his comment. All he cared about was finding Leon. He supposed a small part of him felt bad for what he'd said to Jill but he also felt that, at the time, she'd deserved every word.

"So Bradley, what have you been up to then"? He said grudgingly. He didn't really give a damn but he couldn't stand the awkward silence anymore. If he could distract himself talking about any old crap, then his mind couldn't constantly play through the different scenarios that could've happened to Leon. Each one was more terrifying than the last. Sure Leon could handle himself in a fight but what if he'd been knocked out by the fall? He wouldn't stand a chance. He shook his head to try and escape the thought and continued. "What did you do before some idiot let you join the BSAA? I mean, I'm assuming you bought your way in but that's another story"

"I was a security guard for a while" Brad replied, sweeping the room with his gun as he spoke. There didn't seem to be anyone about but they couldn't afford to get complacent.

"So you failed to get into the British police force then"? Chris said, matter of factly, fingering one of the chess pieces on the table. Leon was a proficient chess player. It wasn't a game that he'd ever taken the time to understand. He flicked the piece, the bishop he recalled, over and moved on.

"No"! Brad's tone was a little too high pitched, a little too defensive and Chris knew he'd hit the nail right on the head. "I wanted to be a security guard actually-"

"Yeah" Chris said sarcastically with a smug grin. "Just like every other security guard. They all wanted to be a security guard first. Honestly Bradley, you shouldn't have wasted your time"

"So, uh, how long have you and Leon been together"? Brad asked, obviously wanting to direct the conversation away from his failed attempt at becoming a police officer. Chris made a mental note to forcibly extract the information later on.

"Two years" Chris answered. He didn't really want to start on the subject of Leon. It was so much easier to tease Brad than to think about his lover.

"And when did you realise you liked guys"? Brad asked delicately.

"Probably around the same time you realised you weren't getting into the police" Chris shot back with a grin. "What made you leave America anyway"?

"Don't know" Brad shrugged. He was obviously trying to come across as flippant but Chris wasn't fooled for a second. "There wasn't really much left for me in America so I figured why not" He moved towards the makeshift bar, ready to shoot anything that might be hiding behind it. "And I'd always wanted to see England"

"You got family there or something"? Chris scanned the bar for any remaining bottles of alcohol. A good shot of whiskey would be just the ticket right about now.

"No" Brad was behind the bar now. Behind him was a basic shelf with rows and rows of clean glasses underneath the bar top and another shelf that had been fixed to the wall which held various empty bottles of spirits. There was an empty cardboard box by his feet that looked like it had once contained packets of nuts. His stomach rumbled in earnest. "My family died in Raccoon" He said quietly.

Chris almost dropped his gun. He looked at his former colleague who was now studying the nearby vending machines with an unnatural amount of interest. He and Brad had never had a close working relationship. Forrest, Kenneth, Barry and Jill, they'd been his closest friends in S.T.A.R.S. Brad had been the fall guy, the guy who'd always been the butt of his jokes, more of an acquaintance than a friend. And then, after the Mansion Incident, he'd been the guy that let them all down. It hadn't mattered to him that Brad had eventually come back to rescue them. It was the fact that he'd been yellow enough to desert them in the first place. Being ex-military, Chris had a strong sense of team work and he'd been trained to never leave anyone behind. If you couldn't trust your fellow soldiers, you couldn't trust anyone. Brad's desertion had been hard for him to take. In all the years he'd had to think about it, he'd never once given a thought to what Brad might've lost during the outbreak.

"Check out these vending machines" Brad said. Chris blinked and came back to the present. He hurried over to the machines. "They've been pried open" And sure enough, both of the doors of the machines were hanging open slightly. They were completely empty. It had obviously been looted at some point but not in a clumsy way. Whoever had opened it certainly had some lock picking ability.

"So we're not alone after all"

0000000000000000000000000000 0

The further Leon moved down the corridor, the more un-nerved he was becoming. Luckily for him, the chemical in the water was too diluted to do him any harm, but he was acutely aware of how impossible it was to move through it silently. Noise wasn't something that he really wanted to be making considering that he was unarmed and had no idea what might be around the next bend. He was keeping his eye out for something he could use as a makeshift weapon but hadn't had much luck so far. He'd been tempted to go back to the body dump and try and locate his gun but he knew it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

He felt all the blood in his veins suddenly turn to ice when, a couple of metres ahead of him, one of the walls was streaked with blood. It was fresh, dribbling down the water and dripping into the water below. He couldn't turn back. Chances were, he'd taken the only exit out of the body dump. He stepped forwards, slowly this time, trying to keep any sound he was making to the absolute minimum. As he moved down the corridor, the blood streaks increased in both size and frequency. It looked like whatever had been attacked had put up a pretty violent fight for its life. Something suddenly knocked against his thigh and, with immense trepidation, he looked down. His stomach turned as he saw that it was a lump of bloody meat. He couldn't tell whether or not it was human. Further down the corridor, he could see more of these dark lumps floating in the water.

He paused. Thinking that he'd heard something. He was right. There was movement in the water that wasn't him. It sounded like it was further along that he was but it was impossible to tell whether the noise was human or not. There were no other sounds than that of its movement through the water, much like his own. His heart started hammering in his chest. He needed a weapon and he needed one fast. He didn't wanted to take the chance on his hand-to-hand skills. Whatever was ahead was likely responsible for the lumps of meat floating around him.

He took another tentative step forward and his boot came into contact with something hard, almost making him stumble. He squinted in the half-light and could just about see something round on the floor beneath the water. With slightly trembling fingers, he reached down into the murky water and picked it up. His hand closed around cold metal. He pulled it up out of the water. It was a valve handle! It was a heavy one at that. It had obviously been torn from one of the walls, probably in the struggle. It wasn't an ideal weapon but it was better than nothing.

The splashing noise was louder now. Whatever was making it was coming his way and fast. He flattened himself against the wall, wincing slightly as his back came into contact with the cold surface. He looked up at the network of pipes running across the ceiling. If he needed to, he could jump for one of them and hold on to it to haul himself up and hide on the ceiling. The light was certainly poor enough for hide his form. He wondered if whatever was after him had smelt him. His clothes, arms and face were covered in a disgusting mix of fluids from the bodies that he'd landed on and he smelt utterly foul.

He froze as a deep, throaty growl rumbled along the corridor. He saw movement in the shadows ahead. Definitely not human. He tightened his grip on the valve handle. His body moved into an attack stance as the splashing grew louder and louder until finally, the light hit the thing which had torn the body to pieces.

It stood mere metres away from him, taking up a large portion of the corridor's limited space. The creature reminded him of the ones he'd met in Wesker's recreation of the mansion. Hunters, Chris had called them. Only, unlike the Hunters, this creature was taller by at least a clear foot. It resembled a giant crab, hard shell plating covering most of its body. It stood on two, thick, solid looking legs. Its arms, again heavily plated, ended in vicious looking pincers that were covered in blood. It didn't appear to have a head. Its torso was topped instead by a large disc shaped shell that acted like a hood to a small, pink face, which appeared to be the only part of it that wasn't armoured. Leon could see a row of thick, sharp teeth sticking out either side of a dark vertical line that was its mouth. It appeared to have noticed him as it let out another throaty growl. A thick tail that hung between its legs twitched, little spines quivering all the way along it. Its pincers opened and closed again, flexing whilst it considered its attack. Leon considered his own options. There was no way the valve handle would be able to crack the shell, no matter how hard he swung it. By the looks of it, the plating was at least an inch thick. Its weak spot seemed to be its face and if Leon had had a gun at his disposal, then he would've been able to hit the damn thing square in its face and killed it.

The creature suddenly lunged towards him. One small mercy was that it seemed to be very slow and lumbering. It shambled down the corridor towards him. Leon swung the valve handle as he could, hitting it directly in its exposed face. It let out a cry of pain and stumbled backwards. It's flailing arms struck out and Leon had to quickly duck to avoid them. He swung out with the handle again, this time aiming for the creature's knees. He hit his target, effectively sweeping the creature's legs out from under it. It crashed to the floor, splashing and writhing in the water. One of its claws glanced his leg, cutting into his thigh. He hissed in pain as he felt the blood start to trickle down his skin.

The creature was on its back, flailing like a stuck beetle. Leon swung the handle a third time, hitting it again on its exposed face, causing blood to erupt from its mouth. It sprayed his face and arms and he closed his mouth quickly to avoid getting a mouthful. It lay there, seemingly dazed. Leon cursed his lack of gun and knife. He couldn't stick the valve handle through its face to finish it off. It started to thrash again suddenly and one of its armoured limbs struck Leon in the back of the knee and he crashed to the floor. He put his hands out quickly to break his fall but it didn't stop him from getting a mouthful of the dirty, fetid water. It had a slightly bleach like taste and he spat it out immediately. He scrambled back to his feet, almost tripping over something in the water. Instinctively, he reached down and grabbed it whilst the monster continued to struggle to right itself.

A surge of hope flared in his stomach. He'd grabbed a length of broken pipe! It was short and thick with a horribly jagged edge at one end. It was perfect. He turned around, ignoring the pain in his thigh. He leapt towards the struggling creature, dodging its limbs as he stood aside it. It hissed and spat at him, making a noise akin to nails being dragged down a chalkboard. Using as much strength as he could muster, he drove the sharp edge of the broken pipe straight into the creature's bloody face. He heard the noise he was waiting for, the sickening crunch of the creature's skull shattering. It twitched for a few seconds as Leon stepped backwards, its body twitching and writhing for finally falling still. The pipe stayed lodged in its face, buried deep into its brain.

Breathing heavily, Leon collapsed against the wall. This time, the contact of the cool metal against his back was welcome. He'd worked up quite a sweat fighting the creature. He stared down at its dead body and felt a surge of pride that he still had it in him to take something like that out despite being away from the field for a year. He turned his attentions to his thigh, which seemed to have stopped bleeding. The blood had clotted to the material of his combats, creating a seal. He was worried about the filthy water. Deciding to give the wound a quick clean, he fumbled in his gun belt for some spray. He'd finally located it and was pulling it out of its pouch when something hard him over the head. His legs buckled under his him and the last thing he remembered was the sound of maniacal laughter.

END OF CHAPTER SEVEN


	8. Chapter 8

Notes: Sorry about the delay in posting, had some major writer's block and Persona 4 Golden was released for my sexy Vita! I implore you to read this chapter cos from here on in, there's some big changes to the original! I'd also appreciate your feedback regarding an addition which will become apparent as you read. Let me know if you think that it'll work and whether you'd like to see more of it in the upcoming fourth story!

The Facility Revisited

Chapter Eight

"So you never told us what that paperwork was about" Kevin said as the three of them left the last room. They'd fallen into a happy little pattern. He and Jill would search the rooms whilst Carlos stood guard outside. The other rooms along the corridor had been considerably fuller that the Archimedes Room but had, ironically, yielded a lot less information. Computers had been stringently password protected and filing cabinets were sealed with a series of locks that had stumped even Jill. She hadn't wanted to admit that of course. Although it had been a bit of sobering experience to come across the first lock in years that she couldn't pick within seconds.

"You don't want to know" She replied. She shuddered as she thought about the last entry she'd read. It had reminded her of the Keeper's diary that she'd found during the Mansion Incident. She sincerely hoped that the writer of this diary, much like the Keeper, had met his maker. She didn't fancy a run in with someone who was capable of writing such twisted words.

"That is, without a doubt, and ignoring everything that comes out of Chris's mouth, the single most annoying phrase a person can say" Kevin said. They'd stepped into another fancy looking corridor but neither of them were paying much attention to it. Carlos was bringing up the rear, doing his best to avoid conversing with Jill. He was trudging along slowly with a deep frown on his face. "Obviously I do want to know or I wouldn't have wasted my breath asking"

"I don't trust this place" Carlos said suddenly from behind them. Kevin had almost forgotten that he was even there. He didn't really have much experience of working with Carlos. He wasn't sure if the younger man was normally this quiet or whether it was because of his problems with Jill.

"Well that's funny" Kevin replied with a roll of his eyes. "Given that it's an Umbrella facility we're in! Jesus…they don't ask for much in the UBCS do they"?

"Puta mierda de la cabeza" Carlos muttered under his breath. He'd just been trying to make some conversation, actually remind Kevin and Jill that he was there. They'd been so busy talking amongst themselves for the past half hour he'd felt invisible. He looked upwards at the metal arches dotted with rivets that were spaced out along the length of the corridor. "Kinda reminds you of Bioshock doesn't it"?

"Bioshock"? Kevin raised an eyebrow.

"Y'know, that Xbox game" Carlos explained. "Don't you play games"?

"No. I make love to my wife" Kevin answered with a smug grin. He turned back to Jill. "Is that why you're so pissed at him? Cos he's too busy playing on a games console to give you the attention you deserve"?

Jill ignored the remark and sincerely hoped that Carlos would too. She didn't have Leon around the split them up again. She turned around to look at her boyfriend and saw that he was currently glaring at Kevin's back. His nostrils were flared in anger and it looked like he was on the cusp of saying something back but had decided against it. She knew from how quiet he was being that Kevin's questions and digs about their relationship were getting on his nerves. She knew how much it was getting on his nerves that he didn't know the answer himself. She'd tried countless times over the past few days to tell him but she couldn't find the right words. It just seemed so much easier to push him away than it was to tell him. If she didn't tell him then she didn't have to face up to it herself.

She shook her head. She needed to focus. She couldn't allow her thoughts to affect her concentration. She needed to carry out their objective and that was to look for survivors. The research area was clearly deserted and it was beginning to look like the entire level had been cleared out and evacuated. The lack of zombies or creatures in the area meant that it was unlikely to be a viral outbreak which led her to believe it could've been the actions of the diary writer. If that was the case, what had originally made the diary writer crack? She remembered the entry saying something about a gas. She wished that they had contact with Barry. She longed to run her theory by him and see what he made of it all. Barry was good like that. He had a knack of putting together pieces of information and coming up with the right answer. He was a dab hand at realising if you were barking up the wrong tree. Maybe she should've listened to him when he'd warned her about dating Carlos…

"Oh would you look" Kevin's sarcastic tone brought her out of her dark thoughts. "Another door" He tapped on the door at the end of the corridor. "And what joys! It's locked by a keypad"

"We'll see about that" Carlos said, pushing Kevin aside. He seemed to relish the action as he did it a little harder than he normally would. Kevin shrugged and stood back, pointing his handgun at the door in readiness for it opening.

"You didn't tell me the boyf was a technical whizz" He commented to Jill as Carlos popped open the maintenance flap for the keypad and started to examine the array of coloured wires that it revealed. He muttered away in his native language, giving each one a gentle tug in turn to see where it connected to the next.

"He used to do bomb disposal for the UBCS before he was posted to Raccoon City" Jill explained, half watching Carlos work, half keeping an eye on the door. Carlos pulled hard at a blue wire, snapping it effectively. The door suddenly slid open revealing a small porch-sized room that was completely empty aside from a small grey door. The door had a black and yellow sign attached to it that said 'Testing Area 1A'. Kevin moved forward into the porch and placed his hand on the grey door's handle.

"Are we gonna go for it"? He asked, looking back at Jill and Carlos.

"We have to" Jill answered. "We need to check everywhere for any survivors" She said with a confidence that she didn't feel. "We might find some answers as well"

"Even if we risk our lives in the process"? Carlos argued. "Going in there and looking for anyone could get us killed"

"And not going in there could mean any survivors get killed" Jill countered.

"Ooh nobility. I like it" Kevin butted in. "Come on Oliveira" He said with a shrug. "We're seasoned professionals at his crazed Umbrella monsters game. I'm sure whatever's behind that door, we can deal with. Besides" He smirked. "There may be some pretty ladies to rescue"

"Might I remind you that you're having a baby with my best friend who just so happens to be your loving wife"? Jill bristled, a sharp look on her face.

"And I love her with all the love it's humanly possible to give" Kevin answered adamantly. "But there's still a little bit of James Bond in me that enjoys rescuing a nice damsel in distress"

"You'll be in distress in a minute" Jill threatened. Kevin grinned at her sheepishly and pulled on the door handle.

The door swung open inwards to reveal a large and expansive garden. Thick, lush grass stretched out in front of them like a luxury carpet. It was perfectly green, each blade sticking up and shining with the unnatural sort of health that one would expect from engineered grass. A couple of metres in front of them was a large, black, wrought iron archway with an Umbrella logo sat atop, exquisitely forged in the same iron as the arch.

"Oh shit. Are we in an Umbrella facility"? Kevin enquired with mock realisation. Jill shook her head, unable to take her eyes away from amazing sight of the garden.

Looking upwards, she could see that the whole room was a big glass dome with black lead separating the glass into panes. She could see how it would look impressive to some visiting investor. A paved path was beneath their feet, stretching through the archway and turning a corner, becoming lost in a large clump of giant flowers of all colours and shapes. The perfumes emanating from the blooms should've created a horrible mix of heady sweetness but the mixture of scents seemed to blend perfectly. Giant toadstools, the size of trees loomed over them and when she looked into the distance, Jill could see more of them, plus more flowers, stretching off endlessly. Towering over all of this, in what appeared to be the centre of the room was a large purple bulb that seemed to be hanging off the ceiling. It was pulsating slightly, almost as if something was moving around inside of it. Thick, green vines hung from it, tumbling down its sides in tangles.

"This is like no testing area I've ever seen…" Carlos gasped, seemingly as amazed as what she was.

"And how many testing areas have you seen"? Kevin questioned.

"Well…this one" Carlos answered sheepishly. Kevin grinned triumphantly. "It'd be horrible if you had hayfever…" He mused. "Do you suffer from it"? He asked Kevin hopefully.

"I wonder what they test in here," Jill said out loud. Her eyes didn't leave the large plant in the centre. It reminded her horribly of Plant 42 in the guardhouse of the Spencer Mansion. She'd been lucky enough to not have too much trouble with it but this plant was far bigger and looked far more deadly.

"It's not a crazy temperature in here so it's probably nothing tropical" Kevin offered. "I suppose since this place if off the coast of England then they wouldn't waste time creating tropical species to unleash upon the population"

"It's off the coast of Scotland actually," Carlos pointed out. "A lot of Americans can't make the distinction between England and the United Kingdom-" He stopped when he realised that Kevin was no longer in earshot. The former cop had walked off, past the archway and deeper into the garden heading, Carlos assumed, towards the giant plant in the centre. He opened his mouth to say something to Jill but she'd started to walk off too.

Seconds later, Carlos heard her shrieking in shock followed by shots being fired. It sounded like she'd reached the centre of the room. He hurried towards her cries, pushing through thickets of the giant flowers and dodging around the toadstools. He reached the centre of the room; which was in shadow due to the giant bulb above their heads. Jill was firing at the huge bulb. Carlos looked up and saw Kevin dangling in mid air, one of thick green tentacles wrapped around his neck.

"Dios Mio"! Carlos exclaimed, drawing his own gun. He aimed carefully at the thick tentacle, just above Kevin's head.

"Carlos"! Jill protested but it was too late. Carlos had fired his shot. It hit the tentacle in its dead centre, causing it to explode in a mass of green fluid. Kevin dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, hitting the soil with a grunt. Jill rushed towards him and helped him to his feet.

"Let's get out of here"! She cried.

"Don't need to tell me twice"! Kevin replied croakily, following Jill's lead. Carlos quickly holstered his gun and followed suit. The three of them ran through the garden, not stopping until they found a door, which read 'End of Testing Area One'. Nobody thought anything of it; it was just a relief to find a way out.

The door opened into another small porch, slightly larger than the first one but other than that, identical. Carlos slammed the door shut and leant against it, breathing heavily.

"That was a risky thing you did" Jill fired at him, giving him a shove, as soon as she'd caught her own breath. Kevin was now sat beside her, rubbing his neck, which seemed to have a thick red ring running around it. It looked like he was going to have a nasty bruise. "You could've shot him accidentally," She added, pointing at Kevin.

"You should know I'm a better marksman than that"! Carlos exclaimed. "I've been handling a gun since I was a kid! Christo"!

"It was still risky" Jill said, her hands on her hips. "Although I will concede that it got us away from that monstrous plant" She added sounding almost disappointed with having to agree with him.

"And it's made you actually speak to me" Carlos added. "I think this is the most you've said to me for days" He sighed heavily. "Maybe it's worth taking the odd risk if I actually get to speak to you and get something back in return"

"It's not-" Jill struggled. Her anger had melted away and it appeared to have been replaced with shame. Her hands had fallen to her sides and were hanging limp. She seemed to be having trouble meeting Carlos eyes. Carlos hadn't really wanted to have this out in front of anybody, least of all Kevin Ryman, but it looked like he no longer had the choice. Carlos pushed himself off the door and took Jill in his arms. For the first time in weeks, she didn't push him away. She let him hold her. It felt so good to be holding her again. He raised his left hand and brushed it lightly against her cheek. He had missed the contact.

"What is it mi amor? Please…just tell me," He said gently.

"Not here" Jill replied quietly. She appeared to brush tears away before turning back to Kevin. "No offence…"

"None taken" Kevin said, his voice still raspy.

"There's a time and a place" Jill gave Carlos a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting and we will talk about it, just not now"

"Not when we're liable to get attacked by crazy ass plants anyway," Kevin added for her, massaging his throat. "I'm fine by the way guys," He continued jokingly. Jill and Carlos broke apart and smiled at him somewhat sheepishly.

00000000000000000000000

"So Bradley…uh…what was your wife's name"? Chris asked awkwardly. He had Brad had left the recreation room and were now in a corridor that wouldn't have looked out of place in the bowels of an ocean liner.

"I think I preferred it when you relentlessly teased me" Brad answered, moving cautiously along the steel grill flooring. "Although it was getting kinda tiresome, I will admit" He offered Chris a friendly smile. "Don't worry about the whole family thing. I know Chris Redfield doesn't do apologies"

"Damn right" Chris replied, trying to ignore the nagging feeling of guilt. It reminded him of when he'd read Leon's personal file back in the Spain. He shook his head, he didn't want to start thinking about Leon again. "I would be delighted to return to mocking you. In fact, I have just such a comment that I believe is perfect here"

"Go on then" Brad crept along the corridor, being careful not to make too much noise. Judging by the evidence of obvious of looting that they'd come across in the recreation room, it was highly likely that they weren't alone. Chris however, didn't seem to be bothered. The clomping of his boots on the metal grill floor could wake the dead.

"Well, we've been down here a while now and you haven't bailed on me" Chris said with a smirk. "Must be some kind of new record"

"Good one" Brad muttered sarcastically although he wasn't really listening. Something further along the corridor had caught his eye. A door, set into the left hand side of the corridor. It didn't, however, resemble the rest of the doors along the corridor with their basic designs and simple steel handles. It looked instead like a bank vault. The door was round and had a handle that resembled a valve handle mounted in the middle.

"Is that a bank vault"? Chris asked, obviously having noticed the door.

"Looks like it" Brad answered. "Although it's really antiquated. They stopped using circular doors years ago because of how hard they were to maintain. The doors would sag eventually because of the immense weight-" Brad stopped speaking when he realised that Chris was giving him a strange look. "What"?

"And where did you learn that"? Chris asked. "Guards and Guarding? Security Guards Weekly? Bank Vault Aficionado"?

"They must've used it for storage of wages" Brad mused, completely ignoring Chris' stupid question. He moved closer to the door and studied it. He was just about to examine the lock to see if there was any way he could get it open when something bum-rushed him against the corridor wall. He felt all the air leave his lungs as he collapsed to the floor. Through his violent coughs in an attempt to get some oxygen, he could hear Chris' sarcastic tone.

"Look Bradley, you made a friend" He said. "So" He turned to the mystery attacker. "Who the fuck are you"? He aimed his gun at the attacker's forehead. He was tall with an athletic build and dressed in a military looking uniform of khaki combats and an olive green t-shirt. He was wearing a khaki coloured vest over this with various compartments for his supplies and a khaki scarf around his neck. His hair was short and brown, the front of it flopping down across his forehead. From the ridiculous way that it looked, Chris figured that it was supposed to be spiked in a similar style to his own. In fairness to the kid, it probably wasn't all that easy to come across hair gel in the bowels of an Umbrella facility. Despite having a gun pointed at his forehead his stance was one of determination. There was a steely gaze in his hazel eyes that conveyed a cocky confidence. This obviously wasn't his first time at the wrong end of a handgun.

"I'm Piers Nivans Sir" The kid replied in a mechanical, military tone. Chris half expected him to start reeling off his rank and number.

"Jesus Kid" Chris spat. He didn't know what yet because he hadn't worked it out, but he didn't like this kid. "I didn't ask for your life story"

"You just asked who he was" Brad pointed out, hauling himself back to his feet. Piers tensed slightly, obviously expecting a revenge attack. Brad made a point to keep his own handgun holstered. "I think you should put your gun down now"

"Shut up Bradlington" Chris snapped. "This here is important Captain type stuff. Not for people who couldn't get into the police force" He added with a snort. He turned his attentions back to Piers and slightly lowered his handgun. The kid was obviously military so he didn't want to take any chances. "So, Peter Evans, or whatever your name is"

"Piers Nivans Sir" Piers corrected him.

"I'm pretty sure you said Peter Evans" Chris replied. "Yeah, that's what you said" He continued adamantly. "Peter Evans"

"He definitely said Piers Nivans, Chris" Brad butted in. Chris rolled his eyes. Trust Bradley to get all hung up on stupid details like somebody's name.

"Bradley. Captain's stuff" Chris reiterated. "You go off and security guard or something" He said with a wave of his hand. "Let the real men talk. Go guard the security" He looked Piers up and down, appraising him. The kid was military, no doubt about that, but Chris was sure he could take him in a fight. "So Peter Evans" He said airily. "What are you doing lurking around here"?

"I was part of a Special Ops Unit assigned to investigate this facility Sir" Piers spoke with his back straight, his eyes forward, probably seconds away from saluting. Chris couldn't help but smirk. It took him back to his Air Force days.

"There's no need to be so formal around us Piers" Brad said with a friendly smile.

"Oh there's every need" Chris butted in haughtily. "After all, I'm The Captain" He puffed his chest out. "Peter Evans needs to know where he stands"!

"So there are more of you here"? Brad continued, ignoring Chris. He felt a surge of hope. If there were more soldiers lurking around the facility it meant that they had more backup which in turn meant they'd get the job done safer and faster.

"There was" Piers' eyes flickered from a brief moment. "The rest of my unit died three weeks ago" His shoulders slumped slightly. "We were in these corridors investigating reports of suspicious activity when we were attacked by-" He stopped, mid-sentence, and listening carefully. An expression of fear crossed his features, making him look like a rabbit caught in the headlights. "Shit! It's here! Get in the vault" He ran to the vault and wrenched the thick, heavy door open. He started to herd Brad in after him. Brad turned and looked at Chris helplessly.

"Do what Peter says Bradley" Chris replied with a roll of his eyes and he shoved Brad through the open door. Chris followed him in and heaved the door shut behind him. He wasn't particularly a fan on following weird soldier types into confined spaces but he'd heard the rumblings too. Whatever the hell was making them was probably responsible for wiping out Piers' squad and Chris wasn't too keen on coming face to face with it without Leon or the others to back him up.

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Leon opened his eyes and noticed that he no longer seemed to be in the foul-smelling, water logged corridor. The second thing that he noticed was that he wasn't wearing his equally foul-smelling, equally water logged clothes. The final thing that he noticed, and this was likely the most crucial, was that he couldn't move from the chair that he was sitting in.

He quickly took in his surroundings. The chair he was sitting on was wooden and wouldn't have looked out of place in an office. He shifted slightly on the seat. The chair creaked giving away a definite flaw in its structural integrity. His ankles had been bound to the front legs and his wrists were secured behind the back of the chair. Another thick length of rope was tied around his chest. His gun belt had been removed and he'd been dressed in a pair of what looked like grey scrubs. He could see a thick wad of gauze covering the wound on his thigh. His face no longer felt tight with dried blood and he couldn't smell the stench from the body dump. He twisted around in the chair to get a good look around the room.

It was a fairly small room, no bigger than a standard single office. The floor was made from scratched metal sheeting that had gone dull with age. The walls were a darker grey but weren't covered with the pipes and valves like the corridor had been. There was no way of knowing whether or not he was on the same floor. It was possible that given the room seemed to be another office, it could've been one or two levels up from the water logged corridor. Probably for some of the low-level staff. It seemed a little more well maintained than the body dump level but it was obvious it still lacked the pomp of the higher levels. Clearly no potential investor would ever be invited to tread these hallways.

Directly, almost teasingly, in front of him was the door. The same dull grey metal as the walls but with a porthole at the top. The rivets on the porthole were rusted with age. To the left hand side of this door was a set of shelves full of different coloured vials of liquid, some in test tubes, some in conical flasks and others in corked beakers, all neatly lined up in rows. To the right of the door was a small desk. An ancient looking computer sat atop it with a large accounts book next to it that had been left open. Leon strained his eyes but couldn't make out any of the words. The writing was a hasty chicken scratch decipherable only to its owner. Beside the book lay a stethoscope and an empty syringe. Those last items in particular didn't help with the crazed doctor vibe that he was feeling.

He needed to get out and quickly. He started wriggling within his bonds, stopping only when he felt a cool, clammy hand come to rest on the back of his neck. He jumped, startled, as it was joined by a second hand on his shoulder. Leon struggled to try and get a look at his captor but the firm grip on his neck forced him to remain looking forwards.

"Which one of them sent you"? A voice spoke, male, high and reedy with a hint of a British accent.

"I don't have a clue what you're on about" Leon replied smoothly.

"Oh don't think I don't know" The hand on the back of his neck dug in painfully. "They've always had it in for me. So where are you from? Research? Development"? The man chuckled dementedly. "No, no…security aren't you"?

"I'm just a guy who should be at his wedding" Leon answered. As part of his Secret Service training, he'd received instructions on how to deal with being taken prisoner. The key was to stay calm, not antagonise your captor and look for a way to escape.

"You're an interesting specimen" The man crooned. "You have scars" The hand on his shoulder moved forward and down, brushing against the spot where he'd been shot so many years ago in Raccoon. Leon felt his pulse quicken slightly. "I saw them when I was washing you and I asked myself, how did you obtain these imperfections? Not that it really matters" The hand on his shoulder reached up and dragged through his hair, lightly fondling it. "Nobody knows you're here do they"? He giggled. "I've worked hard. So very hard. I have imagined things that most others could never imagine. I have watched silently as others gained prestige for achievements that were unworthy of my time. I waited for it to be my turn. But my turn never came"! He suddenly yanked hard on Leon's hair and he fought to maintain his silence. "I want the glory! I am many things! So many more than any of those men who sent you down here. You won't capture me! I won't go back to that room"

Leon swallowed hard. Everything he'd ever been taught about situations like this was that your captor always wanted either money or information. This demented man seemed to want neither. If his thoughts and his motivations were as jumbled as his words then it was highly likely there was no logic behind the kidnap. His training had been comprehensive but Leon felt unprepared to deal with someone to whom standard logic and reasoning didn't apply.

"So what am I to do"? The man continued. "I have studied many things. I have garnered a much wider interest in the human body than I ever thought possible" The man let go of his hair. "And as I said before, you are a most interesting specimen. They said my lust for perfection was my downfall and perhaps they were right. You have imperfections. I require things to be just so. If imperfections are there, there must be symmetry. We cannot have uneven quantities. I tried explaining that to them. They refused to listen. But we must have perfection! If we have to play around a little to obtain symmetry with our specimens then that can't be helped. My last specimen. He was a poor, poor creature. He had lost his arm in an accident. Well, we couldn't have that now could we? I was told I wasn't allowed but I did it anyway. I removed his other arm. Perfect symmetry"

"Just tell me what you want" Leon demanded, trying to keep the fear from his voice. He didn't like the way this was going. He tried to struggle with the ropes to see if he could loosen them enough to escape but they were tied tightly. He could hear the man's soft shoes tapping as he paced behind him.

"Someone shot you did they not? Your stomach, your shoulder and your thigh. Your stomach, that is perfectly acceptable. Centralized scarring. Your left shoulder is scarred and that made me worried. But then I saw it, your right shoulder. It is not a bullet wound. It is a bite but that is perfectly acceptable too. One scar each. But your thighs. Only one of them is scarred. We cannot have that. If you are to be my specimen, I need you to have symmetry"

Silence, and then a shot. Sudden and loud. Pain flared up in Leon's thigh. His whole body tensed in the chair. He bit back a scream. He felt a hand close over the wound as he blacked out.

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Jill was grateful when the testing area didn't lead directly on to another one. Instead, it lead on to an office. She supposed that it had once belonged to whoever oversaw the experiments in the testing area. Behind a large, polished oak desk, was a bank of monitors. Half of the screens showed the testing area they'd just escaped from. The other half showed a room that looked very similar to a desert.

"Oh another testing area. Splendid" Kevin remarked as he stared over her shoulder at the monitors. "I wonder what's gonna try and choke me in there" He shook his head and threw himself into a nearby chair, sighing heavily. His voice had returned to normal but an angry red ring encircled his neck, parts of it were already purple where the bruising was starting to come through.

"Maybe we can avoid it" Carlos suggested. He leant against a water cooler. He considered taking a drink but then figured it probably wasn't wise to drink anything in an Umbrella facility, no matter how benign it looked.

"No way Oliveira. As far as I'm concerned, the only way is forward" Kevin replied. "There's no way in hell that I'm going back through that garden" He shuddered as he thought about the massive plant. "It's put me off gardening for life and trust me, it was never an interest to begin with"

"You reckon this stuff is contaminated"? Carlos asked, pointing to the liquid in the water cooler. It felt like hours since he'd had a drink. He'd lost his hip flask in the fall when the sea monster had smashed through the corridor. Somehow, he didn't expect Kevin would be all that willing to share with him.

"I don't know Hombre" Kevin said sarcastically. "Why don't you give it a try"? He turned his attentions back to Jill who'd started to rifle through the desk drawers. She pulled out a sizeable stack of folders, a pair of glasses and a chocolate bar. Kevin's eyes shot back to Carlos' just in time to see the other man's eyes land on the shiny wrapper. Like a pair of wild dogs who'd spotted the same prize, they both leapt towards the treat. Carlos got there first, his hand closing around the bar. Kevin landed on top of him and pulled him to the ground. They wrestled, Carlos managing to hold the chocolate just out of Kevin's reach. But Kevin refused to be defeated by the likes of Carlos Oliveira. Using his legendary adaptability skills, Kevin grabbed his hip flask and squirted some of the contents into the younger man's face. Carlos released the chocolate bar and Kevin grabbed it, hauling himself back to his feet in one swift movement. He flashed Carlos a smug grin before ripping into the wrapper and biting off a huge chunk of chocolate.

"What the hell are you two up to"? Jill demanded reproachfully. Carlos pulled himself to his feet, wiping his face and shooting Kevin a nasty glare. Kevin grinned back, swallowing the last of the chocolate bar and licking his fingers smugly. "Look" She continued. "Make yourselves useful and help me skim read through some of these. We're supposed to be on a fact finding mission here. We haven't come across any survivors and we need to ascertain why. We can't destroy this facility if there's a risk that we could be releasing harmful chemicals into the ocean"

"Pass a folder over" Kevin offered, reaching out for one. Carlos shrugged and headed to the open door.

"I'll keep watch" He said grudgingly.

"She's madder at you" Kevin muttered childishly as Carlos walked past.

0000000000000000000000000000 

When he'd finally come around, Leon had no way of knowing how long he'd been out. Everything seemed hazy and muddled and he could barely remember where he was. He could taste blood in his mouth and figured that at some point, he must've bitten his tongue. His stomach rolled over and over, making him want to retch. The pain was edging back into his consciousness. He fought against it. He'd had much worse pain. Back in Raccoon and back in Spain. He needed to relax as much as his body would allow him to and then he wouldn't be sick.

He suddenly realised that he could no longer see any of his surroundings. A hasty blindfold, probably made from more of the scrubs, was tied tightly around his eyes, blocking out any light. That didn't stop him from looking down instinctively as he felt the pants of his scrubs being tugged down. The movement made him aware of the wound. He'd been shot. He could feel it bleeding slowly and steadily and it was making his head swim. A cold feeling washed over him and he shivered. His body was going into shock. He needed to focus his mind and concentrate. He needed to think about anything that would help him fight off the wave of unconsciousness he knew was on its way. He'd done it before in the sewers of Raccoon City so he knew that he could do it again.

A fresh wave of nausea rocked him as he felt a calloused hand skin across his bare thighs. These touches were nothing like the touches that he was used to. Unlike Chris' they were cold and clinical and sickening. Intensified due to his lack of sight. The hand was like sandpaper scraping over his naked flesh.

"Fuck"! He cursed involuntarily as he felt a horrible, hot rush of pain. A thick finger was pressing straight into the bullet wound. It wriggled around inside of him and he was a breath away from begging it to stop. Begging and pleading was against his training. It never worked. Some sick fucks even got off on it. Maybe this guy was one of them. There was no way of knowing.

"Tell me about the other times you were shot" The voice suddenly demanded.

"No…" Leon managed to get the word out despite the spots that were dancing in front of his closed eyes. He felt the finger withdraw and he rode out the fresh wave of agony that assaulted his already struggling body. Chris had always called him a stubborn idiot and he was proving that now. His will was preventing him from giving into the ever present threat of darkness that was on the edge of his consciousness.

"They underestimated me, did you know that"? The voice continued, gently stroking the area around the bullet hole. Leon could feel him streaking the fresh blood across his thigh. "I was the greatest asset this company ever had and what did they do? They wasted it! My gas! My gas was pioneering"!

"What…gas"? Leon asked through gritted teeth. His whole body tensed, waiting for the invading finger once again. He jumped when he felt a cool wet cloth sweep across his thigh, wiping with an almost gentle precision.

"They didn't understand it" The voice explained, continuing to drag the cloth across his skin. The other hand gripped the underside of his thigh tightly, almost possessively. "Not even a modicum of understanding, that's why they thought using it against me would work. They never knew that using my own invention against me would make me more powerful"

Leon tried to focus on what his captor was saying. Concentrating on the words, even if they didn't make sense, would give him something to latch on to and help him remain conscious. But suddenly he felt a horrible pain, worse than before, hot and searing. Something hard was poking into the wound. It dove deeper and deeper, like a red hot knife needling into his tortured flesh. It caused a hot torrent of pain but it was cool and hard like steel. He fought back fresh waves of nausea as he felt it move around looking, he figured, for the bullet. It was dangerous, he knew that. Everything he'd ever been taught about emergency field surgery said that a bullet was never to be removed. Removal could cause more damage, more bleeding. He could feel the fresh blood welling up out of the wound and running down his thigh in thick rivulets.

"Oh and they looked so pretty" The voice chuckled. "Blood and brains splattered everywhere" The knife inside him twisted and Leon stiffened in his bonds. He wanted to cry out in pain but at the same time didn't want to give his captor the satisfaction. If the man had a penchant for torture then the cries of his victims would no doubt fuel his actions. It felt as though the blade was scraping away at him from the inside out and all the while, through the terrible pain, his mind chanted the dangers. Tearing, muscular damage, catastrophic blood loss.

It felt like hours although, in reality, it couldn't only been a couple minutes, the knife pulled out of his thigh bringing something with it. The metal ping that followed confirmed his suspicions that his captor had successfully removed the bullet. More blood ran down his leg and another crippling wave of dizziness assaulted his senses. Bile hurtled up to his throat and he swallowed it back down, the taste vile and acidic.

"Nearly there…" The voice soothed. Leon could feel the man's hot breath on his thigh. He was obviously inspecting his handiwork. "Ah yes…symmetry…so pretty" His head was swimming now. The man's hands skimmed over his thighs. "So pretty…"

0000000000000000

Chris leant against the vault door, his handgun at the ready. The tiny room was silent. Piers was at his side, frozen to the spot, a combat knife in his hand. Brad backed them up, a worried expression on his face as if he were waiting for something to burst through the door which, Chris supposed, was entirely possible. The rumbling however, instead of getting louder, seemed to have gone away completely.

"Piers"? A small voiced echoed from the corner of the room, making Chris jump. He turned around and took in his surroundings for the first time. All signs that it had ever been used for holding money had been removed. Against the back wall was a plank of wood resting on two oil drums, obviously serving as a shelf. There were a few personal items spread across it, a set of dog tags, a spiral bound notebook, a battered portable DVD player and an old DVD copy of the movie 'Top Gun'. On the floor by the drums was a pile of food and drink which had obviously been stolen from the vending machines they'd seen earlier. Propped up in one corner of the room was a powerful looking sniper rifle. In the other corner of the room was a thin mattress covered in ragged looking sheets. In the middle of all of these sheets, with her head on a pillow, was a young girl who couldn't have been more than seventeen.

"Hey" Piers voice and stance completely changed as he left his place at the door and hurried over to the girl. "It's ok" He flashed her a smile.

"The Beast"? She said, looking up at him enquiringly. For want of a better way of putting it, the girl looked awful. Chris had never seen someone look so ill who wasn't a zombie. She had long ginger hair which had been tied back into a ponytail but it was lank and greasy. Her green eyes were watery with deep bags underneath them. One of her arms unwound from the pile of sheets and grabbed hold of Piers' proffered hand. It looked horribly thin as though it might snap. Her skin was pale and spotty.

"It's gone" Piers replied reassuringly. The girl nodded and smiled weakly back at him. Her eyes widened when she looked around and caught sight of the two new additions to the vault.

"Who are they"? She asked, her smile fading and her expression turning to one of pure horror. She gripped Piers' hand tighter.

"Don't worry" Piers looked down at their linked hands and ran his thumb over the back of her hand gently and slowly. "They're here to help ok? You just relax and have a drink and I'll have a chat with these guys and we'll sort out a plan"

The girl nodded but didn't seem wholly convinced. She reached down by the side of her mattress and grabbed a bottle of water. She took a sip before putting it back down and picking up a nearby book. The cover had fallen off so Chris had no idea what it was that she was reading. She seemed suddenly engrossed in it but Chris couldn't help but notice that her eyes kept roaming sideways to look at him.

Piers turned away from his vault-mate and joined Chris and Brad back at the door. His friendly nature had all but vanished once more and was replaced by his soldier mask.

"You never told me why you're here" He said. "Bradley was it"?

"Just Brad" Brad replied. "We're with a military group called the BSAA. We've been sent to investigate what's going on down here, pretty much the same mission brief as you by the looks of it" Chris noticed him looking over at the girl with a concerned look on his face. "Was she one of the residents"? He asked, keeping his voice low.

"Yeah" Piers nodded. "We found her wandering the maintenance corridors one floor down. It looks like she's been on her own for a while. This is her hiding place actually. She was nice enough to let me stay once my squad..."

"You lost all of them"? Brad asked gently. Piers nodded once more. "Because of that beast"? His voice remained barely above a whisper, obviously not wanting the girl to overhear and get upset. Chris couldn't help but feel irritated by Bradley's sudden take charge attitude. He hadn't been made Captain for nothing!

"I got lucky" Piers answered. "It's the only reason I survived. I've been trying to escape here but my rifle and handgun are out of ammo and I don't want to take any risks as far as Ginny is concerned. She…she's not well"

"What's wrong with her"? Brad said. His look of concern turned to all out worry. Chris folded him arms across his chest and leant against the vault's door. He was distinctly unimpressed with the way he was being treated. It was almost like he was invisible.

"I don't really know" Piers replied. "She hasn't said a lot about what happened to her here but I've got the feeling that she's infected"

"Woah…woah" Chris stepped in. "She's infected? That means she's dangerous" He glanced at the girl who was still reading her book. She didn't look like any of the victims that he'd seen but he knew that appearances could be deceiving. After all, Leon had been infected with the Plagas virus a long time before he'd shown any signs of infection.

"It's not that kind of infection" Piers argued. "It's…well, I don't know what is"

"Well sorry to piss on your parade Kid but it's likely that pretty soon she's gonna wanna start gnawing on your leg" Chris said. "I've seen enough of Umbrella's viruses to know what I'm talking about. I feel sorry that you lost your squad and that she's just a kid but the brutal fact is that she's a liability"

"Would you keep it down"? Piers hissed through his teeth. He'd obviously decided to take Brad's advice and drop the whole 'Sir' military routine. "She's dying! She's getting worse every day and I've known for a while now that there's no way in hell she'd survive an escape. I've been doing what I can but there's only so far a standard issue First Aid kit can help. All I can do is stay with her and make sure she doesn't die alone"

"And then what's your plan"? Chris asked.

"To get the hell out of this place" Piers answered. "I've seen enough here to last me a lifetime. I don't really have much of an idea what happened here but I know enough. That thing that roams the corridor wiped out most of the staff. Ginny said something about some gas that they exposed her to" He looked over his shoulder at Ginny. Since Chris had overtaken the conversation, Brad had gingerly approached her and she was now showing him something in her book. Brad was nodding and smiling at her warmly. Chris' insides clenched a little. He wondered if Ginny reminded Brad of his family. "She's just a kid" Piers continued. "How the hell could anyone do something like that to her"?

"Well, that's Umbrella for you" Chris said sourly. "Not above experimenting on children" His stomach turned as he said the words. Piers looked equally stricken. Chris felt the tiniest twang of guilt. He obviously cared for the girl and it reminded him of the way Leon had talked about Sherry.

Brad meanwhile, seemed to be getting along with Ginny. He was now knelt down by her bed and she was proudly showing him her copy of Top Gun.

"I like that movie too" Brad smiled at her. "It's part of what made me love flying"

"Wow, you're a pilot"? Ginny replied. Her dull eyes lit up. Now that he was much closer to her, Brad could see that she was clearly not healthy. She tried to hide it as best as she could, pulling the tattered blankets around her. "That is so cool" She marvelled. "Hey, can I call you Maverick? He's my favourite"

"Sure you can" Brad grinned. His stomach turned at the thought that someone could experiment on another human being, let alone someone who was as innocent as Ginny.

"I've never seen outside" Ginny continued with a wistful sigh. "Only in movies. I was hoping that Piers would get me out of here"

"He's trying" Brad replied.

"I'll never see the outside world" Ginny continued. "Because I'm dying" She added bluntly. "Piers likes to think that I haven't worked it out yet but I can feel that I am. One of the researchers down here, Archibald Spencer, he made this gas. I don't know what it did. But he used it on me. He said it didn't do what it was supposed to but it did something to my lungs. I heard that someone eventually used it on him and he went mad"

Brad was stunned. He had no idea what to say. Here was this girl, not even an adult yet, and she was talking openly about her own mortality as though it was nothing. He'd seen hardened soldiers fall apart at the idea of their own death.

"Don't tell Piers I told you" Ginny said. "It upsets him when I talk about it. He's still sad because of his unit"

"I won't say a word" Brad replied reassuringly. He could feel his eyes pricking with tears. He didn't want Ginny seeing him cry. "How about you show me some more of your book"? He said quickly.

"Sure Maverick"

"They seem to be getting on well" Piers said as he watched Brad and Ginny talk. "I'm sorry I'm not gonna be able to be much help to you two. I don't have much in the way of supplies, both of my guns are out of ammo and I haven't been on a vending machine run in a while. I know these corridors like the back of my hand but it's not easy with that creature running around"

"You know the layout"? Chris replied, trying not to sound impressed. A glimmer of hope suddenly seemed to appear on the horizon. "I don't suppose you know if there's a body dump around here"?

"There is" Piers answered grimly. "It's not too far away from here. I'm pretty sure there's only one. It's pretty big from what I've seen. Not that I wanted to really hang around for long"

"I…" Chris hated asking for help. It made him feel weak. He'd much rather sort things out on his own. But this concerned Leon and, more specifically, Leon's life. Swallowing his pride and asking Peter Evans for help would be nothing in comparison. "I could really use your help. I need to get there and quickly"

"I'd show you" Piers replied. "But I can't leave Ginny"

"I'll stay with her" Brad said as he approached them. "I don't mind. She's a lovely girl. Kinda reminds me…never mind" He shook his head. "I'll stay and make sure she's alright. You guys can pick us up on the way back"

Piers nodded gratefully at Brad's use of the word 'us' when, in reality, it was likely to only be Brad. He turned to let Ginny know what was going on, but she'd fallen asleep.

"Here, take my handgun" Brad proffered the weapon. "There's a couple of spare clips in my belt" He pulled Piers to one side as Chris, not wanting to waste any more time, started to yank the vault door open. "I'll warn you about Chris. He'll be a total jerk to you all the way but you couldn't want a better partner"

"Come on Peter Evans" Chris barked from the doorway, as if on cue. "Does it look like I've got all day? Get your skinny little ass in gear"

END OF CHAPTER EIGHT


End file.
